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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


LIFE  UNDER  GLASS, 

CONTAINING  SUGGESTIONS   TOWARD 

THE  FOEMATION  or  ARTIFICIAL  CLIMATES. 

BY 

GEORGE    A.    SHOVE. 


"  If  all  were  free, 

Who  would  not,  like  the  swallow,  flit,  and  find 
What  season  suited  him?  —  in  summer  heats 
Wing  northward,  and  in  winter  build  his  home 
In  sheltered  valleys  nearer  to  the  sun." 


BOSTON: 
JAMES    R.    OSGOOD    AND    COMPANY, 

(LATE  TICKNOE  &  FIELDS,  AND  FIELDS,  OSGOOD,  &  CO.) 

1874. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1874,  by 

JAMES  B.  OSGOOD  &  CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


BOSTON.- 

STEBEOTYPED  AND  POINTED  BY  RAND,  A  VERY,  &  Co. 
117  FRANKLIN  STBEET. 


DEDICATION. 


TO  THE 

COUNTLESS  HOST  OF  WEATHER -SENSITIVE  INVALIDS 

OF  THE  NORTH 

£fjts  ILtttle  Uolume  is  ftespcctfullg  QctitcatelJ, 

AS  A 

8UGGKSTION  TO  THOSE  WHO  ARE  TO  ORGANIZE  THE  SANITARY 

SCIENCE  OF  THE  FUTURE ;    LET  US  HOPE, 

OF  THE  NEAR  FUTURE. 


M351802 


ONE  of  the  foremost  of  English  medical  writers, 
Dr.  James  Johnson,  emphatically  says,  "  I  declare 
my  conscientious  opinion,  founded  on  long  observa- 
tion and  reflection,  that  if  there  was  not  a  single 
physician,  surgeon,  apothecary,  chemist,  druggist,  or 
drug,  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  there  would  be  less 
sickness  and  less  mortality  than  now  obtains."  And 
Prof.  Magendie  is  reported  to  have  addressed  his  stu- 
dents at  the  Medical  College  in  Paris  to  the  following 
effect :  "  Gentlemen,  medicine  is  a  great  humbug. 
I  know  it  is  called  a  science.  Science  indeed !  —  it  is 
nothing  like  science.  Doctors  are  mere  empirics 
when  they  are  not  charlatans.  We  are  as  ignorant  as 
men  can  be.  Who  knows  any  thing  in  the  world 
about  medicine  ?  Gentlemen,  you  have  done  me  the 
honor  to  attend  my  lectures;  and  I  must  tell  you 
frankly,  that  I  know  nothing  about  medicine.  True, 
we  are  gathering  facts  every  day.  We  can  produce 
typhus-fever,  for  example,  by  injecting  a  certain  sub- 
stance into  the  veins  of  a  dog ;  we  can  alleviate  dia- 
betes ;  and  I  see  distinctly,  we  are  fast  approaching  the 
day  when  phthisis  can  be  cured  as  easily  as  any  disease. 
But  I  repeat  it  to  you,  there  is  no  such  thing  now  as 
medical  science.  I  grant  you,  people  are  cured ;  but 
how  ?  Nature  does  a  great  deal ;  imagination  does  a 
great  deal ;  doctors  do  —  devilish  little." 


PREFACE. 


To  the  man  or  woman  who  is  blessed  with 
even  the  smallest  of  conservatories  or  green- 
houses, and  whose  home  is  on  the  shady 
side  of  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude,  the 
motive  of  the  following  little  work  will  need 
no  apology.  It  is  such  a  supreme  satisfac- 
tion to  have  a  few  hundred  cubic  feet  of 
space  fenced  in  with  crystal  from  the  raging, 
stinging  winds  of  a  Northern  winter,  —  a  shel- 
tered nook  where  one  can  easily  fancy  it  the 
middle  of  May,  while  out  of  doors  the  frozen 
blood  of  St.  Januarius  has  not  yet  begun  to 
liquefy  under  the  touch  of  the  returning 
sun,  —  that  a  mind  of  ordinary  intelligence 


6  PREFACE. 

which  enjoys  such  a  privilege  will  acknowl- 
edge the  desirability  and  the  practicability 
of  fencing  off  very  much  larger  portions  of 
space  with  transparent  material,  so  that 
multitudes  may  be  enabled  to  enjoy  the 
benefit  and  the  pleasure  of  a  mild  and  equa- 
ble winter  temperature. 

An  article  published  in  "  The  Atlantic 
Monthly"  for  March,  1873,  entitled  "Life 
Under  Glass,"  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion throughout  the  Northern  States  from 
people  who  are  not  afraid  of  ideas  merely 
because  they  are  new.  It  was  suggested  to 
the  author  from  influential  quarters  to  ex- 
tend the  essay,  and  have  it  published  in  a 
book  form.  The  author  is  conscious,  that, 
even  in  its  enlarged  form,  the  essay  is  still  an 
inadequate  presentation  of  a  subject  so  im- 
portant (as  he  believes  it  to  be)  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  Northern  peoples. 


LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

IT  is  one  of  the  tritest  of  axioms,  that  cus- 
tom, or  repetition,  will  often  reconcile  us  to 
the  most  afflicting  events. 

Let  a  desolating  war  break  out  in  any 
country  after  a  long  interval  of  peace,  and 
the  first  insignificant  skirmish  excites  the 
public  mind  to  the  most  intense  degree, 
although  the  loss  of  life  may  be  slight ;  but, 
let  the  war  continue  long  enough,  and  the 
most  sanguinary  battles  at  length  cease  to 
excite  in  the  contending  peoples,  except  in 

7 


8  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

individual  cases,  that  thrill  of  horror  which 
attended  the  breaking-out  of  the  carnage. 

As  with  wars  and  battles,  so  with  diseases. 
There  are  some  destructive  maladies  which 
cause  an  annual  mortality  far  greater  than 
the  loss  of  life  in  any  battle  of  modern 
times,  yet  which  have  become  so  common,  so 
closely  inwoven  into  the  fibre  of  the  race, 
as  to  seem  as  much  a  part  of  the  fixed  order 
of  things  as  are  the  taxes,  and  quite  as  little 
to  be  avoided. 

At  the  head  of  the  list  of  such  diseases 
stands  consumption,  unrivalled  by  any  other 
malady  of  the  North  in  the  number  and 
character  of  its  victims.  This  scourge  of 
the  most  enlightened  of  the  earth's  peoples, 
those  who  boast  of  their  descent  from  the 
energetic  and  the  progressive  Aryan  race, 
loves  a  shining  mark.  Its  too  often  fatal 
shafts  seem  to  seek  out  the  bright  and  beau- 
tiful of  earth's  children.  It  neglects  the 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

very  young  and  the  very  old,  but  gathers  its 
annual  harvest  of  tens  of  thousands  out  of 
those  in  the  early  or  later  prime  of  manhood 
and  womanhood. 

Fifteen  thousand  human  beings  are  annu- 
ally killed  by  tigers  in  India.  The  North- 
American  shudders  as  he  reads  a  statement 
indicative  of  so  deplorable  a  state  of  affairs, 
and  thanks  his  stars  that  his  lines  are  cast 
in  pleasanter  places.  A  little  reflection 
would  show  him  that  there  is  an  enemy 
among  us  more  destructive  of  valuable  life 
than  all  the  tigers  of  India,  plus  its  venom- 
ous serpents. 

Of  all  the  deaths  that  occur  in  most 
Northern  countries,  consumption  is  responsi- 
ble for  nearly  or  quite  one-fifth.  Let  us  sup- 
pose that  the  woods  and  swamps  of  our 
land  were  jungles  infested  by  royal  Bengal 
tigers,  which  caused  a  yearly  destruction 
of  life  equal  to  one-fifth  of  all  the  deaths. 


10  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

How  long  would  such  a  state  of  things  be 
permitted  to  continue?  .The  tigers  we  are 
happily  free  from ;  but  their  place  is  more 
than  supplied  by  an  insidious  and  fatal 
disease,  which,  more  discriminating  than  the 
scourge  of  the  Indian  jungles,  selects  its 
prey  from  the  very  flower  of  society. 

The  indifference  with  which  this  great  loss 
of  valuable  lives  is  regarded  in  the  commu- 
nities in  which  it  occurs  is  not  flattering  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  age.  If  some  fatal 
disorder  like  the  pleuropneumonia  threatens 
the  domestic  animals,  there  is  directly  an 
intense  excitement.  Remedies  of  various 
kinds  are  experimented  with ;  the  whole 
matter  is  thoroughly  discussed  in  news- 
papers, in  farmers'  clubs,  and  in  public  meet- 
ings. Legislatures  are  even  convened  to 
enact  repressive  laws,  and  stamp  out  the 
disease  before  it  is  too  late. 

In  the  case,  however,  of  a  merely  human 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

malady  like  consumption,  which  sweeps  off 
men  and  women  in  lieu  of  cows  and  oxen 
having  a  pecuniary  value,  society  is  content 
to  fold  its  hands  after  the  fatalistic  manner 
of  the  Moslem,  while  the  mortality  proceeds 
unchecked,  as  an  inscrutable  and  irremedi- 
able dispensation  of  Providence. 

"  The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves." 

Yet  society  is  roused  from  its  apathy  if  the 
cholera  in  its  infrequent  visits,  or  the  yellow 
fever,  or  the  small-pox,  claims  a  few  victims. 
These  are  unmistakably  contagious  diseases  ; 
and  selfishness  whispers  to  each  individual 
that  it  may  be  his  turn  next.  Directly  there 
is  a  panic :  all  the  means  that  sanitary 
science  can  suggest  are  energetically  used  by 
boards  of  health  having  unlimited  powers 
to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  malady.  All 
of  this  is  very  natural  and  proper.  If  it 


12  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

were  possible,  likewise,  to  get  up  a  whole- 
some panic  in  regard  to  consumption,  which 
is  a  greater  evil  than  all  the  other  mala- 
dies mentioned  combined,  something  might 
also  be  done  to  check  its  ravages. 

Much  has  been  written  as  to  the  causes  of 
pulmonary  consumption,  and  different  theo- 
ries prevail  as  to  its  nature  and  origin.  Its 
proximate  causes  are  undoubtedly  manifold, 
the  chief  of  which  are,  hereditary  tendency 
or  a  scrofulous  taint  of  the  blood,  a  weaken- 
ing of  the  system,  an  unwholesome  diet,  &c. 
But,  whatever  may  be  the  proximate  or  the 
exceptional  causes,  it  is  evident  that  an  un- 
genial  and  variable  climate  must  bear  the 
chief  onus  of  responsibility  for  its  preva- 
lence.* A  climate  liable  to  sudden  and 

*  Possibly  there  are  some  who  will  not  admit  that  con- 
sumption has  its  origin  chiefly  in  atmospheric  causes.  If 
that  is  not  the  case,  why  is  it  that  there  are  certain  climates 
v.  here  the  disease  seldom  or  never  originates?  Such  is  the 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

great  falls  of  temperature  at  all  seasons,  or 
which  is  subject  to  long  spells  of  raw,  humid 
weather,  is  shown  by  statistics  to  be  a  con- 
genial habitat  of  pulmonary  consumption. 
On  the  other  hand,  climates  more  uniform  in 
character,  and  having  a  dry  atmosphere,  are 
comparatively  exempt  from  lung  disease.* 

case  iu  Minnesota,  which  is  largely  peopled  from  New 
England,  the  emigrants  including  many  consumptive 
families;  yet  the  children  grow  up  without  the  disease 
developing  itself,  though  retaining  the  same  habits,  and 
modes  of  life,  as  before  their  emigration.  As  a  remedy 
for  the  disease  when  developed,  the  climate  of  Minnesota 
has  been  greatly  overestimated.  It  is  stated  by  good 
authority,  that  not  more  than  five  per  cent  of  those  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  this  disease  are  permanently  benefited  by 
removal  to  Minnesota.  The  land  is  high,  and  the  air  con- 
sequently dry  and  pure  ;  but  the  terrible  severity  of  the 
winters  is  a  great  drawback. 

*  To  trace  the  connection  between  the  languages  of 
different  peoples  and  the  climates  they  lived  in  would 
repay  the  investigations  of  even  a  Max  Miiller.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly possible  to  judge  very  nearly  of  the  climate 
of  any  country  from  a  mere  vocabulary  of  the  words  in 


14  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

From  the  peculiarities  of  climate  of  New 
England  and  some  other  portions  of  the 
Northern  States,  one  would  naturally  ex- 
pect to  find  consumption  a  prevalent  disease 
in  these  regions ;  and  such  is  the  fact. 

daily  use  by  the  inhabitants.  Thus  the  climate  of  Eng- 
land is  characterized  by  a  very  large  proportion  of  dark, 
misty,  rainy,  and  cloudy  days.  Somebody  has  compared 
it  to  looking  up  a  chimney  when  the  day  is  fair,  and  to 
looking  down  the  chimney  when  it  is  unpleasant.  The 
words  in  the  English  language  descriptive  of  foul  weather 
far  outnumber  those  used  to  describe  fair  weather.  For 
example,  take  the  adjectives  commencing  with  the  letter 
D,  which  are  in  common  use  by  the  English  people  when 
talking  of  the  weather.  A  spell  of  foul  weather  might  be 
described  as  being  dark,  damp,  drizzly,  dreary,  dismal, 
dirty,  dull,  dripping,  doleful,  drowsy,  dumpish,  dubious, 
distressing,  deused,  dreadful,  detestable,  dangerous  ;  and, 
if  the  colloquist  were  addicted  to  profanity,  several  more 
emphatic  adjectives  beginning  with  D  might  be  used.  To 
describe  a  fine  day,  using  only  words  commencing  with 
the  letter  named,  the  choice  would  be  restricted  to  three  or 
four  dry,  —  delightful,  delicious,  and  perhaps  delectable, 
though  the  latter  word  is  not  in  general  use. 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

Whatever  else  we  may  have  to  be  proud  of, 
our  climate  is  not  a  subject  for  unmixed  ad- 
miration. It  is  well  known  to  be  a  climate 
of  extremes,  —  what  the  naturalist  Buffon 
called  an  excessive  climate,  —  extremes  not 
only  of  heat  and  cold,  but  of  wetness  and 
dry  ness.  The  great  range  of  the  thermome- 
ter, in  some  years  more  than  a  hundred  and 
twenty  degrees  of  Fahrenheit's  scale,  is 
rivalled  by  the  fluctuations  of  the  hygrome- 
ter. Pluvial  floods  that  would  not  discredit 
the  rainy  season  of  the  tropics  —  times 
when  it  seems  easy  to  believe  in  the  theory 
of  Leibnitz,  that  the  universe  is  in  flux  — 
are  followed  or  preceded  by  drouths  worthy 
of  the  red  sands  of  the  Colorado  desert, — 
drouths  sharp  and  long  enough  to  cause  all 
organized  life,  animate  and  inanimate,  to 
thirst  for  a  little  of  that  moisture,  which,  in 
its  excess,  was  so  great  a  discomfort  to  man 
and  beast.  It  was  such  a  drouth  that  pre- 


16  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

pared  the  way  for  the  terrible  dies  irce  of  the 
burning  of  Chicago  and  the  Michigan  lum- 
ber region. 

At  all  seasons  the  temperature  of  these 
regions  is  liable  to  sudden  and  great  alterna- 
tions from  warmth  to  cold,  and  the  reverse. 
For  instance,  on  the  29th  of  January,  1873, 
the  temperature  at  the  writer's  residence,  in 
Southern  Massachusetts,  fell  fifty  degrees  in 
seven  hours,  or  from  thirty  degrees  above 
zero  to  twenty  below  that  point.  The  next 
day  the  mercury  rose  seventy  degrees  in  five 
hours.  Such  severe  changes  are  destructive 
to  vegetable  as  well  as  to  animal  organiza- 
tions. In  the  winter  of  1871-72  the  com- 
bined cold  and  drouth  were  so  intense  as  to 
destroy  hardy  evergreens  over  a  large  extent 
of  the  country.  The  following  summer  was 
intensely  hot.  More  than  three  hundred 
fatal  cases  of  thermic  fever,  or  sunstroke, 
were  reported  in  New- York  City  alone. 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 

The  mortality  in  that  city,  during  the  ter- 
ribly hot  week  ending  with  July  6,  was 
three  times  as  great  as  the  average.* 

*  A  valuable  and  interesting  feature  of  the  ninth- 
census  reports  are  the  "charts  of  mortality"  in  the 
second  volume.  These  charts  show  in  distinct  colors  the 
relative  mortality  from  various  maladies  in  different 
sections  of  the  country.  The  first  shows  the  mortality 
from  consiimption.  The  highest  average  of  deaths  from 
this  disease,  over  two  thousand  in  ten  thousand,  is  indi- 
cated by  dark  blue.  This  color  covers  the  greater  part  of 
the  New-England  States,  and  also  appears  in  North- 
western New  York,  in  Eastern  New  Jersey,  around  the 
head  waters  of  the  Ohio  Tliver,  in  South-eastern  Indiana, 
and  Northern  Kentucky.  The  next  highest  average, 
fourteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  deaths  in  ten  thousand, 
is  shown  by  a  lighter  shade  of  color.  This  covers  a  large 
part  of  Michigan,  Southern  Wisconsin,  and  parts  of  Il- 
linois, Iowa,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  and  West  Virginia.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  Middle  States  are  covered  by  it, 
excepting  Pennsylvania.  The  only  spots  in  the  country 
east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  a  perfectly  white 
record,  with  less  than  five  hundred  and  fifty  deaths  in  ten 
thousand,  are  the  northern  parts  of  Minnesota,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Michigan,  and  small  areas  in  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Southern  Florida. 


18  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

It  would  be  'easy  to  fill  a  large  volume 
with  evidence  showing  the  excessive  and 
variable  character  of  our  climate ;  but  the 
labor  would  be  superfluous.  Every  resident 
of  the  regions  under  consideration  is 
thoroughly  sensible  of  the  fact  from  un- 
pleasant, personal  experience.  It  is  not 
strange,  that,  in  a  climate  with  such  peculi- 
arities, phthisis  pulmonalis  is  responsible  for 
one  death  in  every  five.  A  locality  in  which 
a  harsh,  changeable  winter  and  spring  are 
followed  by  a  summer  of  debilitating  heat 
is  the  most  unfavorable  that  could  be  devised 
for  those  afflicted  with  phthisis,  or  who  have 
a  tendency  towards  it  through  hereditary 
descent.  Hence  many,  who  have  the  means 
and  can  bear  the  journey,  take  flight  in  the 
autumn  with  the  birds  of  passage  to  more 
friendly  climes,  —  to  Florida,  to  Georgia,  and 
the  Carolinas,  to  the  Bahamas,  and  even  to 
Southern  California.  It  has  been  denied  by 


INTRODUCTORY.  19 

some  physicians  of  eminence  —  among  them 
the  noted  Dr.  Ramadge  of  London  —  that  a 
winter  residence  at  the  South  is  of  any 
benefit  to  people  having  tuberculous  diseases 
of  the  lungs.  There  is  evidence,  however, 
that  many  cares  of  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
malady  have  occurred  owing  to  removal  to  a 
milder  latitude.  The  number  of  such  cures 
would,  no  doubt,  be  much  larger  than  it  is 
if  any  southern  climate  could  be  found 
where  the  conditions  were  absolutely  per- 
fect for  effecting  a  cure.  Italy,  Southern 
France,  and  Spain,  were  formerly  popular 
winter  resorts  for  those  afflicted  with  this 
disease  ;  but  experience  has  long  since  shown 
that  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  are  far  from  being  favorable 
localities  for  the  cure  or  amelioration  of  this 
disease.  The  average  winter  temperature  is 
mild  compared  with  that  of  more  northern 
lands  ;  but  sudden  changes  frequently  occur. 


20  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

Cold,  cutting  winds,  like  the  mistral  of 
Southern  France  and  the  tramontana  of  the 
west  coast  of  Italy,  alternate  with  the  hot 
and  debilitating  sirocco,  "  Auster's  sultry 
blast."  The  spring  months  are  especially 
trying  to  persons  with  weak  lungs,  from 
the  keen,  easterly  winds  which  often  prevail 
at  that  season.  ,  The  best  resort  for  con- 
sumptives across  the  ocean,  excepting  some 
parts  of  Syria,  is  undoubtedly  the  Island  of 
Madeira.  Yet  the  climate  of  this  favored 
island  is  not  perfection.  "  The  spring  at 
Madeira,"  says  Sir  James  Clark  in  his  work 
on  the  sanitive  influence  of  climate,  "  as 
at  every  other  place,  is  the  most  trying  sea- 
son for  the  invalid,  and  will  require,  even 
there,  a  corresponding  degree  of  caution  on 
his  part."  Notwithstanding  this  drawback, 
he  considered  a  residence  in  Madeira,  during 
the  cold  season,  to  be  decidedly  beneficial  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  lung  disease. 


INTRODUCTORY.  21. 

The  winter  climates  of  Florida,  of  South- 
ern California,  and  of  some  other  places  in 
the  austral  regions  of  our  country,  with  the 
summer  climate  of  the  Minnesota  watershed, 
are  far  superior,  in  a  sanitive  point  of  view, 
to  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean. Florida  especially,  though  sometimes 
subject  to  rough  "  northers,"  has  a  winter 
temperature  of  great  mildness.  That  of 
San  Diego,  in  Southern  California,  is  said  to 
be  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  it  in  this  respect. 

But,  whatever  may  be  the  advantages  of 
these  and  other  distant  resorts  for  the  sick, 
it  is  obvious  that  they  can  be  made  available 
to  only  a  small  portion  of  the  large  numbers 
of  persons  who  need  a  mild,  dry,  and  equable 
atmosphere  as  a  primal  condition  of  cure. 
Possibly  five  per  cent  of  this  class  are  able 
to  bear  the  expense  and  endure  the  fatigues 
of  the  long  journey  required.  What  is  to 
be  done  with  the  remaining  ninety-five  per 


22  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

cent  ?  Must  they  give  over  all  hope  of  re- 
covery, and  hasten  the  sad  finale  by  yielding 
to  the  depressing  influence  of  a  cheerless 
gloom?  At  present  there  is  only  one  re- 
source by  which  they  can  avoid,  to  some  ex- 
tent, the  trying  changes  of  temperature,  and 
the  cold,  raw  spells  of  weather  incident  to 
the  winters  and  springs  of  our  northern 
clime ;  and  that  is,  to  keep  indoors  as  much  as 
possible.  The  remedy,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
is  almost  as  bad  as  the  evil  sought  to  be 
avoided.  How  can  invalids  regain  health 
who  have  to  breathe  for  days  and  weeks  at 
a  time  the  close  air  of  a  sitting-room, 
poisoned  by  stove  or  furnace,  and  filled  with 
the  irritating  dust  from  carpets  and  clothing  ? 
It  is  only  the  natural  sequence  of  cause  and 
effect  that  the  enfeebled  vitality  of  multi- 
tudes succumbs  under  such  unfavorable  con- 
ditions. Is  there  no  remedy  for  this  state 
of  things?  Cannot  an  artificial  climate  be 


INTRODUCTORY.  23 

provided  for  these  stricken  ones,  which  shall 
furnish  a  breathing  medium,  dry,  pure,  agree- 
able in  temperature,  and  of  a  nearly  uniform 
degree  of  warmth?  —  in  brief,  a  climate  far 
surpassing,  in  its  sanitive  influence,  any 
natural  climate  on  the  globe?  The  writer 
believes  that  this  is  entirely  possible ;  and 
he  is  not  without  the  hope  of  imparting 
to  others  some  portion  of  his  own  well- 
grounded  faith. 

The  question  has  often  been  mooted, 
whether  man  has  the  power  to  influence  or 
change,  in  any  degree,  the  general  climate  of 
the  regions  he  occupies.  Those  conversant 
with  the  facts  bearing  upon  the  question  can 
have  but  one  opinion  to  give  in  the  premises  ; 
which  is,  that,  within  certain  narrow  limits, 
the  climate  of  any  country  can  be  modified 
by  human  agency.  The  temperature  of  large 
districts  in  England  has  been  raised  appre- 
ciably by  the  artificial  drainage  of  the  soil, 


24  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

which  was  primarily  cold  through  excessive 
wetness.  After  drainage,  the  dry,  cultivated 
soil,  being  more  easily  warmed  by  the  sun, 
absorbs  heat  to  a  great  depth,  and  imparts  it 
again  to  the  air  above  by  radiation. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Salt  Lake,  in  Utah, 
cultivation  of  the  soil  and  tree-planting  hav^ 
noticeably  improved  the  climate.  Where 
there  were  formerly  frosts  in  every  month  of 
the  year,  frost  is  now  unknown  during  the 
growing  season.  The  climate  has  also  lost 
much  of  its  former  aridity.  Rains  are  said 
to  be  much  more  frequent ;  and  the  level  of 
Salt  Lake  is  constantly  rising,  threatening 
ultimate  overflow  of  its  banks.  Possibly,  in 
time,  it  will  become  a  fresh-water  lake.  The 
wonderful  patience  and  industry  of  the  illit- 
erate Mormons  have  changed  the  region  they 
occupy  from  a  cold,  arid  desert  into  a  ver- 
dant garden,  where  all  the  fruits  and  cereals 
of  the  temperate  zone  grow  in  perfection. 


INTRODUCTORY.  25 

Similar  changes,  though  perhaps  less  marked, 
have  attended  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
in  other  seemingly  unpromising  localities. 
Even  under  the  proverbially  rainless  sky 
of  Egypt,  it  is  said,  some  indications  of  a 
moister  state  of  affairs  have  followed  the 
extensive  planting  of  forest-trees  under  the 
orders  of  the  Khedive. 

Such  instances  as  these  show  that  meteor- 
ological phenomena  can  be  sensibly  modified 
by  man's  agency.  But  they  do  not  prove 
that  it  will  ever  be  possible  to  effect  any 
radical  change  in  the  earth-climates.  No 
amount  of  drainage  or  tree-planting  would 
ever  give  to  New  England  the  atmospheric 
temperature  of  the  Gulf  States.  Such  a  rad- 
ical bouleversement  as  that,  if  it  ever  takes 
place,  will  be  due  solely  to  the  operation  of 
those  occult  forces,  —  whether  cosmical  or 
telluric  in  their  nature  is  yet  an  open  ques- 
tion, but,  in  either  case,  inconceivably  slow, 


26  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

as  the  mills  of  the  gods,  —  which,  during  the 
existence  of  our  weather-worn  planet,  have 
more  than  once  revolutionized  its  climates, 
and  which  may  even  now  be  inaugurating 
the  cycle  that  shall,  perhaps,  hundreds  of 
centuries  hence,  restore  to  these  northern 
lands  the  tropic  temperature  and  vegetation 
the}r  possessed  in  the  carboniferous  age. 
Such  a  contingency  as  that,  if  it  were  a  near 
one,  would  not  be  entirely  agreeable  to  con- 
template ;  but  it  is  altogether  too  remote  to 
excite  any  deep  interest  in  the  world  of  to- 
day. What  the  present  generation  of  men 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  interested  in,  is  to  use  the 
means  it  undoubtedly  possesses  to  counteract 
the  ill  effe'cts  of  our  present  climate  upon  the 
systems  of  those  who  are  unable  to  bear  its 
severities  of  temperature. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  efforts  of  man  will 
ever  enable  him  to  control,  in  any  degree, 
the  vast  atmospheric  waves  which  sweep 


INTRODUCTORY.  27 

over  land  and  sea  with  alternate  floods  of 
warmth  and  cold,  —  now  soothing  us  into 
Elysian  dreams  with  the  soft  accent,  the 
spirits  leniS)  of  the  sweet  south ;  now  scour- 
ging and  pinching  us  with  the  spiritus  asper 
of  the  icy  north.  Yet  these  great  and  often 
sudden  changes  of  temperature  can  be  ren- 
dered innocuous  to  the  most  susceptible 
invalids  by  creating  isolated  climates  of  con- 
siderable extent,  and  of  any  desirable  temper- 
ature and  hygrometric  condition  of  atmos- 
phere. The  material  which  chiefly  enables 
this  to  be  done  is  abundant  and  compara- 
tively cheap,  and,  were  it  not  so  common, 
would  excite  perennial  wonder  and  admira- 
tion. 

.There  is  no  transformation  in  art  or  nature 
more  wonderful  than  the  conversion  of  sub- 
stances so  opaque,  and  so  earthy  in  nature, 
as  are  sand  and  alkali,  into  such  a  material 
as  glass,  —  a  material  having  scarcely  one 


28  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

property  characteristic  of  its  components; 
which  almost  rivals  the  diamond  in  hardness, 
brilliancy,  and  transparency ;  which  can  be 
blown,  moulded,  and  cut  into  myriad  shapes 
of  use  and  beauty ;  which  enables  mankind 
to  have  light,  warm,  and  cheerful  homes; 
which  furnishes  the  means  of  exploring  the 
distant  abysses  of  the  stellar  spaces,  and  of 
revealing  a  new  world  in  the  dust  of  earth 
and  air,  and  by  the  aid  of  which  it  becomes 
easily  possible  to  grow  the  flowers  and  fruits 
of  the  tropics  under  the  cold  skies  of  the 
north.  There  is  no  other  substance  of  man's 
invention  that  approaches  glass  in  its  impor- 
tance to  the  well-being  of  the  race  in  high 
latitudes.  Without  its  beneficent  aid,  large 
portions  of  the  earth's  surface  that  are  now 
peopled  by  thriving  and  mentally-advanced 
communities  would  be  uninhabitable  except 
by  semi-savages.  Indispensable  as  it  already 
is,  its  use  will  undoubtedly  be  greatly 


INTRODUCTORY.  29 

extended  in  the  near  future.  Owing  to  its 
property  of  allowing  the  transmitted  heat- 
rays  of  the  sun  to  pass  through  its  substance 
without  material  hinderance,  while  it  prevents 
the  free  escape  of  the  heat  thus  imprisoned 
into  space,  one  can  bottle  up  sunshine,  as  it 
were,  in  one's  grapery  or  conservatory.  If  a 
man  puts  a  glass  roof  over  his  garden,  it  is 
equivalent  to  a  removal  fifteen  or  twenty 
degrees  nearer  to  the  equator. 

The  writer  has  had  some  experience  as  an 
amateur  cultivator  of  our  native  grapes. 
Some  years  ago  he  had  a  mild  attack  of  the 
grape-fever,  induced  by  the  glowing,  descrip- 
tive catalogues  of  certain  noted  vine  propaga- 
tors in  the  valley  of  the  Hudson.  A  spot  of 
mellow  garden-soil  was  prepared  by  trench- 
ing and  enriching ;  a  close  board  fence  was 
built  around  the  north  and  west  sides  for  a 
wind-screen ;  and  in  this  dry,  rich,  sheltered 
spot,  several  hundred  vines  were  planted, 


30  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

comprising  all  the  varieties  then  in  vogue. 
For  two  or  three  years  the  vines  grew  well, 
and  some  first  premiums  for  the  fruit  were 
taken  at  the  county  fairs.  But  a  succession 
of  unfavorable  seasons  ensued.  Heavy  floods 
of  cold  rain  in  July  and  August,  followed  by 
scorching  sunshine  and  sultry  air,  brought 
mildew  and  sun-scald  in  their  train.  Sul- 
phur, said  to  be  a  specific  for  the  oidium^  was 
freely  applied  through  the  nozzle  of  an  old 
bellows,  but  with  scarcely  any  effect.  The 
diseased  leaves  dropped  from  the  vines  in 
untimely  showers  before  the  end  of  summer, 
leaving  the  unripened  fruit  to  shrivel  and 
perish.  Deprived  of  the  leaves,  the  wood  of 
the  new  shoots  also  remained  unripened,  and 
the  buds  for  the  next  year's  growth  undevel- 
oped. As  a  consequence,  all  the  vines  except 
a  few  of  the  hardier  sorts  were  permanently 
enfeebled. 

The  impending  failure  of  the  grape  cul- 


I  NT  ROD  UCTORY.  31 

ture  in  the  open  air  being  foreseen,  it  was 
decided  to  transfer  the  field  of  operations  to 
an  artificial  climate.  A  grape-house  of 
modest  dimensions  was  built,  and  sixteen 
vines  of  the  best  foreign  varieties  were 
planted  with  their  roots  in  the  border  out- 
side. No  more  pains  were  taken  with  the 
border  than  had  been  bestowed  on  the  soil 
in  which  the  out-door  vines  had  been 
planted.  The  house-vines  were  not  set 
until  June,  and  not  much  growth  was 
expected  of  the  feeble-looking  little  things 
for  that  season.  They  soon,  however,  sent 
up  shoots  which  grew  with  wonderful  rapid- 
ity and  vim  in  the  genial  air  of  the  grapery. 
They  seemed  to  be  almost  conscious  of  their 
good  fortune  in  being  placed  in  such  favora- 
ble conditions  for  growth,  sheltered  from 
rough  winds,  from  cold,  and  from  storms.  It 
was  a  pleasure  to  watch  their  daily  develop- 
ment of  healthy,  stocky  wood,  and  of  richly- 


32  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

colored,  beautifully-shaped,  veined,  polished, 
crenulated  leaves.  Some  of  the  canes  at- 
tained a  length  of  more  than  twenty  feet, 
with  a  diameter  at  the  base  of  three-fourths 
of  an  inch,  before  they  were  checked  by  the 
cold  of  autumn.  The  health  and  vigor  of 
the  vines  still  continue  undiminished,  and 
they  annually  bear  many  clusters  of  fine 
fruit. 

Glass  graperies  are  not  uncommon  nowa- 
days ;  and  the  writer's  experience  in  this 
interesting  department  of  horticulture  would 
hardly  be  worth  relating  except  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  superiority  of  an  artificial  cli- 
mate over  a  harsh  natural  one  for  the 
cultivation  of  semi-hardy  and  tender  vines 
and  plants.  Foreign  grapes,  varieties  of  the 
Vitis  vinifera,  it  is  well  known,  will  not  suc- 
ceed in  the  Atlantic  States,  even  when 
planted  several  degrees  farther  south  than 
their  original  homes  in  Europe  and  Asia. 


INTRODUCTORY.  33 

* 

If  one  has  a  greenhouse  in  his  garden,  he 
is,  to  a  certain  extent,  independent  of  the 
changing  seasons  and  of  inclement  skies.  In 
winter,  when  the  sun  shines,  he  can  enjoy  a 
summer-like  temperature  under  the  protect- 
ing glass ;  and,  by  adding  artificial  heat,  he 
can  surround  himself  with  greenery  and 
bloom.  Even  when  the  sun  is  veiled  by 
thick  clouds,  its  heat-rays  penetrate  through 
the  vapors  of  the  upper  air,  so  that  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  within  the  greenhouse  is 
very  perceptibly  raised.  To  the  susceptible 
invalid  in  winter,  weary  of  the  prison-life  of 
a  sitting-room,  perhaps  ill  lighted  and  ill 
ventilated,  a  greenhouse  on  a  sunny  day 
seems  a  delightful  change.  The  gales  of 
January  or  of  March  may  be  roughly  scour- 
ging the  world  outside  ;  but  under  the  glass 
roof  the  air  is  quiet  and  genial  like  a  winter's 
morning  in  the  Antilles.  The  enfeebled 
system  absorbs  the  magnetic,  vitalizing 


34  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

rays  in  every  pore.  Our  style  of  domestic 
architecture  trill  not,  as  a  general  rule,  allow 
of  having,  like  the  old  Romans,  solaria  on  the 
house-tops.  Our  solaria  for  the  enjoyment 
of  sun-baths  must  be  on  a  less-elevated  situ- 
ation; and,  for  a  large  class  of  invalids  in 
winter,  must  be  under  glass. 

It  will  not  be  questioned  that  tender  plants 
which  have  been  enfeebled  by  exposure  to  a 
harsh  atmosphere  can  generally  be  restored 
to  vigor  by  simply  placing  them  under  the 
shelter  of  a  glass  roof.  Considering  the  es- 
sential solidarity,  and  oneness  of  origin,  of 
the  two  organized  kingdoms  of  Nature,  their 
close  similarity  in  their  lowest  forms,  so  that 
scientific  men  yet  disagree  as  to  the  point 
where  the  vegetable  kingdom  ends  and  the 
animal  kingdom  begins,  it  would  seem  no 
more  than  a  just  inference,  that,  in  their  more 
developed  forms,  they  mus.t  still  have  many 
attributes  or  properties  in  common.  Is  it 


INTRODUCTORY.  35 

not,  then,  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
treatment  required  by  delicate,  exotic  plants, 
which  have  become  diseased  in  an  ungenial 
climate,  is,  with  some  modifications,  the 
treatment  proper  for  animals  and  for  human 
beings  enfeebled  by  the  same  cause?  For 
man  also,  under  these  inclement  skies,  is  not 
yet  acclimated,  but  may  be  considered  an 
exotic  from  the  warmer  regions  of  the  planet 
which  undoubtedly  gave  him  birth. 

A  few  years  since,  a  gentleman  of  Phila- 
delphia—  Gen.  A.  J.  Pleasonton  —  instituted 
some  experiments  with  animals  placed  under 
glass,  or  in  glass-covered  pens,  in  winter. 
He  found  that  healthy  animals,  such  as 
young  pigs,  grew  more  rapidly  than  in  ordi- 
nary pens  ;  while  a  sick  calf  was  speedily  re- 
stored to  full  health,  and  made  a  surprising 
growth.  The  glass  used  in  the  pens  was 
half  blue  or  violet  colored,  and  half  common 
or  colorless.  The  experimenter  attributed 


36  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

the  beneficial  effect  to  the  blue  glass  alone, 
from  the  previous  wonderful  effect  it  had 
seemed  to  produce  upon  the  growth  and 
fruiting  of  some  vines  in  a  grapery  in  which 
it  had  been  used.  Yet  it  is  more  than  proba- 
ble, that,  if  all  the  glass  in  the  pens  had  been 
colorless,  the  same,  or  perhaps  even  a  supe- 
rior effect  would  have  been  produced  upon 
the  animals.  The  time  of  year  being  winter, 
they  had  the  full  benefit  of  the  sun's  light 
and  warmth,  with  no  exposure  to  cold  winds 
and  storms. 

These  experiments  *  were  not  thorough 
enough  to  be  conclusive  upon  any  point ;  and 

*  Some  experiments  of  the  writer's  with  fowls  having 
the  rotip  and  other  disorders  showed  conclusively  that 
recovery  was  much  more  certain  and  rapid  when  the  sick 
birds  were  placed  iinder  the  shelter  of  a  greenhouse  than 
when  confined  in  an  ordinary  pen,  or  allowed  to  roam  at 
large. 

The  claim  of  the  Philadelphia  gentleman  in  regard  to 
the  efficacy  of  the  violet  rays  in  promoting  vegetable  and 


INTRODUCTORY.  37 

they  certainly  do  not  warrant  the  conclusion 
that  the  beneficial  effect  was  owing  solely  to 
that  portion  of  the  glass  which  was  colored 
blue.  As  far  as  they  go,  they  simply  coin- 
cide with  the  inference  deducible  from  a 
common-sense  view  of  the  subject ;  which  is, 
that  domestic  animals,  whether  sick  or  well, 
will  thrive  better  when  protected  from  the 
storms  and  cold  of  winter,  if,  at  the  same 
time,  they  can  have  the  benefit  of  the  sun's 
light  and  warmth,  than  they  will  in  pens  of 
the  ordinary  construction. 

animal  growth  is  not  sustained  by  later  experimenters, 
such  as  Professor  Pfeiffer  of  Marburg;  and  l>y  Selim  and 
Placentim.  The  experiments  of  these  gentlemen  show 
that  the  yellow  rays  are  more  promotive  of  the  evolution 
of  carbonic  acid  in  animals,  and  its  absorption  in  plants, 
than  any  other  color  in  the  spectrum,  or  than  white  light ; 
the  violet  rays  having  the  least  power  in  these  respects, 
excepting  the  red  rays  in  the  case  of  animals.  The  absorp- 
tion of  carbonic  acid  by  plants,  and  its  evolution  by  ani- 
mals, are  prime  essentials  to  the  growth  and  health  of 
each. 


38  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

From  the  great  similarity  of  the  human 
organization  to  that  of  the  other  mammalia 
lower  in  the  scale  of  being,  it  is  reasonable 
to  infer  that  a  like  beneficial  effect  would 
follow  if  invalids  with  certain  diseases  hav- 
ing their  origin  in  vicissitudes  of  weather, 
among  them  consumption,  were  placed,  dur- 
ing the  inclement  season,  in  an  environ- 
ment permitting  the  fullest  entrance  to  the 
sun's  warmth  and  light,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  unfavorable  influences  of  a  rough 
atmosphere  were  excluded.  Such  an  experi- 
ment —  if  that  can  be  called  an  experiment 
which  appears  to  the  reflective  intellect  an 
absolute  certainty  —  can  only  be  satisfacto- 
rily tried  on  a  very  large  scale.  If  properly 
carried  out,  it  would  call  into  exercise  all 
the  resources  that  modern  science,  aided  by 
a  lavish  use  of  capital,  can  command ;  and  the 
results  would  undoubtedly  be  commensurate 
with  the  means  employed.  In  the  succeed- 


INTRODUCTORY.  39 

ing  pages,  it  is  hoped  to  demonstrate,  beyond 
reasonable  cavil,  that  such  an  investment  of 
money  w^uld  be  profitable  to  capitalists,  as 
well  as  greatly  beneficial  to  invalids. 


CHAPTER   II. 

PLAN  FOB   A   SANITARIUM. 

MANY  millions  of  treasure  directed  by  the 
best  practical  science  have  been  expended  in 
costly  glass  houses  for  the  protection  of  rare 
plants,  or  for  the  growing  of  non-hardy 
fruits;  but  neither  thought  nor  money  has 
been  given  to  furnish  adequate  winter  shel- 
ters for  the  myriads  of  tender  human  plants 
whose  physical  systems  are  too  weak  to 
endure  the  rough  weather  of  a  harsh  and 
capricious  clime.  Yet  there  are  indications 
that  the  time  is  not  very  distant  when  this 
defect  in  our  civilization  will  be  remedied. 
The  means  for  remedying  it  can  be  found 
only  in  a  system  of  winter  gardens,  which, 

40 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  41 

as  will  be  shown  in  the  sequel,  shall  also  be 
summer  gardens  during  the  warm  season,  on 
a  scale  of  magnitude  startling  to  timid 
minds,  and  in  which  the  chief  materials  of 
construction  shall  be  iron  and  glass. 

The  London  Crystal  Palace  of  1851  demon- 
strated the  wonderful  adaptability  of  iron 
and  glass  in  combination  for  the  construction 
of  large  edifices.  The  history  of  this  famous 
building  is  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  this 
generation  of  readers.  Most  of  them  can 
recall  how  marvellously  rapid  was  its  con- 
struction; its  exceeding  cheapness,  costing 
less  in  proportion  to  its  size  than  an  ordinary 
barn ;  and  how,  having  admirably  answered 
its  purpose  as  an  exhibition-building,  and  at- 
tracted the  wondering  admiration  of  people 
of  all  nations,  it  was  taken  down,  and  recon- 
structed, with  some  modifications,  at  Syden- 
ham,  as  a  permanent  pleasure-resort  for  the 
people  of  London  and  vicinity.  For  beauty, 


42  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

convenience,  and  cheapness  of  construction, 
combined,  the  Crystal  Palace  for  the  World's 
Fair  of  1851  stands  unrivalled  among  the  ex- 
hibition-buildings that  have  adorned  the  capi- 
tals of  the  world.  The  sequence  of  events 
that  led  to  the  realization  of  this  unique  and 
splendid  structure  may  be  unfamiliar  to  some 
of  the  readers  of  these  pages. 

In  the  year  1831,  a  gigantic  species  of 
water-lily,  with  floating  leaves  many  feet  in 
circumference,  each  of  them  capable  of  sup- 
porting, without  sinking,  the  weight  of  a 
half-grown  boy,  and  with  flowers  of  corre- 
sponding dimensions,  was  discovered  by 
Schomberg,  the  botanist,  in  the  Berbice,  — 
one  of  the  sluggish  rivers  of  Demerara.  Seeds 
of  this  immense  water-plant  were  sent  to 
England,  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  Joseph 
Paxton,  then  horticultural  manager  of  Chats- 
worth,  the  princely  seat  of  the  Duke  of  Dev- 
onshire. A  single  plant  raised  from  these 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  43 

seeds  was  treated  with  the  most  careful  at- 
tention to  its  supposed  needs.  It  was  placed 
in  a  soil  of  peat  and  burnt  loam ;  the  tem- 
perature of  the  house  was  nicely  regulated ; 
the  water  in  its  tank  was  artificially  warmed, 
and  its  surface  was  gently  agitated  by  ma- 
chinery in  imitation  of  the  ripples  of  a  river. 
Under  such  extra  care,  the  plant  expanded 
with  wonderful  rapidity:  it  soon  outgrew 
the  accommodations  provided  for  it,  and  it 
became  indispensable  to  speedily  enlarge  its 
habitation.  Being  a  man  fertile  in  resources, 
and  having  carte  blanche  from  the  wealthy 
and  liberal-minded  duke  as  to  expense,  Mr. 
Paxton  accomplished  this  in  a  few  weeks ; 
and  the  result  was  a  beautiful  structure  of 
iron  and  glass,  in  which  the  Victoria  Regia 
could  expand  and  blossom  as  freely  as  in  its 
native  stream.  The  conservatory  thus  has- 
tily erected  was  the  germ  of  the  Crystal 
Palace,  for  the  plans  of  which  Joseph  Paxton 
was  made  Sir  Joseph. 


44  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

Thus,  if  the  Victoria  Regia  had  not  been 
discovered;  if  seeds  of  the  plant  had  not 
been  sent  to  England ;  if  these  seeds  had  not 
found  their  way  to  Chatsworth,  or  had  failed 
to  germinate ;  and  if  a  less  ingenious  person 
than  Paxton  had  taken  them  in  charge,  —  then 
the  marvellous  glass  palace  of  the  World's 
Fair  would  not  have  been  built,  but,  instead, 
Hyde  Park  would  have  been  lumbered  with 
the  ungainly  pile  of  bricks  and  mortar  de- 
cided upon  at  first  by  the  building  com- 
mittee :  so  that,  if  any  link  in  the  chain  of 
seemingly  incongruous  and  unimportant  cir- 
cumstances had  been  lacking,  the  present 
age  would  probably  have  seen  no  adequate 
exemplar  of  the  grand  results  that  may  be 
effected  when  iron  and  glass  are  used  as  the 
chief  materials  in  the  building  of  large  edi- 
fices. 

The  conservatory  at  Chatsworth,  though, 
of  course,  it  could  not  compare  in  size  with 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  45 

the  World's-Fair  building,  was  yet  a  splen- 
did specimen  of  a  plant-house,  unequalled  at 
that  day  in  size  and  appointments.  Two 
acres  of  glass  panes  were  required  in  its  con- 
struction, and  it  contained  several  distinct 
climates  to  suit  the  needs  of  plants  from  dif- 
ferent zones.  Some  idea  of  its  size  and  of 
the  ultra  regal  splendors  of  the  ducal  palace 
may  be  formed  from  the  fact,  that,  while 
Queen  Victoria  was  once  visiting  at  Chats- 
worth,  she  entered  the  conservatory  one 
evening  with  the  duke  in  a  carriage-and- 
four,  while  the  beautiful  structure  blazed 
and  glittered  in  her  honor  with  the  light  of 
fourteen  thousand  burners.  Enchanted  with 
the  brilliant  scene,  the  young  queen  turned 
to  her  host,  and  exclaimed,  "  Devonshire,  you 
beat  me  ! "  If  such  marvellous  glass  struc- 
tures have  already  been  built  for  conserva- 
tories and  for  exhibition-purposes,  what  may 
not  be  expected  in  the  future,  when  the 


46  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

same  material  shall  be  used  for  the  greatly 
more  important  purpose  of  constructing  sani- 
tary resorts  for  the  prevention  and  cure  of 
some  of  the  worst  maladies  that  afflict  and 
almost  decimate  the  Northern  peoples  ?  For 
it  will  yet  be  generally  acknowledged,  that 
the  great  loss  of  valuable  life,  due  to  the  ill 
effects  of  extreme  and  changeable  climates, 
can  be  very  largely  reduced  through  the 
beneficent  agency  of  the  material  called 
glass. 

In  the  present  stage  of  our  civilization, 
human  life,  judging  from  the  general  apathy 
in  regard  to  its  needless  waste,  is  considered 
to  be  of  less  importance  than  the  lives  of 
brutes.  Little  heed  is  paid  to  the  hard  logic 
of  statistics,  which  shows  that  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  human  race,  or  at  least  of  that 
portion  called  civilized,  dies  before  reaching 
the  age  of  five  years.  "  Of  all  the  coffins 
that  are  made  in  London,"  wrote  Charles 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  47 

Dickens,  "  more  than  one  in  three  is  made 
for  a  little  child."  Add  to  this  slaughter  of 
the  innocents  the  needless  mortality  at  more 
advanced  stages  of  life,  and  the  aggregate 
becomes  so  enormous  as  to  make  it  seem  a 
marvel  that  even  the  present  slow  increase 
in  the  population  of  Christendom  is  main- 
tained. In  a  new  country  like  our  own, 
with  an  immense  area  of  unoccupied  terri- 
tory, the  subject  assumes  an  importance, 
which,  from  the  merely  utilitarian  point  of 
view,  it  does  not  possess  in  the  more  dense- 
ly-peopled countries  of  the  globe.  Until 
our  vast  domain  is  filled  with  happy  homes, 
we  shall  continue  to  welcome  the  throngs  of 
emigrants  that  seek  our  hospitable  shores 
from  the  countries  over  the  ocean.  They  are 
considered,  and  rightly  so,  to  be  a  most  im- 
portant element  in  the  enhancement  of  the 
wealth  and  power  of  the  nation.  Yet  while 
the  peasants  of  Europe  are  encouraged  to 


48  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

emigrate,  even  by  the  lure  of  free  home- 
steads, very  little  heed  is  paid  to  the  need- 
less waste  of  life  that  is  constantly  taking 
place  in  our  native-born  population. 

If  each  raw  Irishman  or  German  that 
lands  from  the  emigrant-ships,  with  no  other 
wealth  than  the  ability  and  will  to  work  for 
a  living,  is  worth,  as  has  been  estimated,  not 
less  than  a  thousand  dollars  to  the  country, 
then  certainly  a  native  American,  in  the 
same  circumstances,  is  worth  at  least  as 
much.  If  he  is  threatened  or  attacked  by 
maladies  liable  to  a  fatal  termination,  and  his 
health  is  restored  by  the  use  of  proper 
means,  then  there  is  a  thousand  dollars,  or 
its  equivalent,  saved  to  the  wealth  of  the 
nation.  Is  it  not  about  time  to  supplement 
the  Poor  Richard  maxim,  that  "  a  penny 
saved  is  as  good  as  a  penny  earned,"  by  the 
nobler  one,  that  a  life  saved  is  as  good  as  a 
life  imported  ?  Often,  in  fact,  it  might  be  a 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  49 

great  deal  better,  considering  the  character 
of  some  of  the  human  raw  material  that 
comes  to  us  from  the  Old  World.  The  utili- 
tarian, the  dollar s-and-cents  view  of  the 
matter,  is  not,  of  course,  the  highest  one  that 
might  be  taken ;  but  it  is  the  one  most 
likely  to  be  heeded  in  an  age  when  the  first 
question  asked  in  relation  to  any  undertak- 
ing is,  "Will  it  pay?" 

The  site  of  a  sanitarium,  it  is  obvious, 
should  be  on  high  land,  to  secure  the  prime 
essentials  of  pure  air  and  thorough  drainage 
of  the  soil.  A  level-topped  hill  of  sufficient 
area,  with  a  gravelly  subsoil,  would  be  one  of 
the  best  possible  locations.  The  establish- 
ment, as  has  already  been  said,  should  be  on 
an  extensive  scale.  Only  on  a  generous 
scale  of  expenditure  could  satisfactory  re- 
sults be  produced,  either  remedially  or  finan- 
cially. The  form  of  the  main  edifice, 
whether  the  ground-plan  is  a  circle,  a  square, 


50  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

a  parallelogram,  a  Greek  cross,  or  other 
figure,  is  not,  for  purposes  of  illustration, 
very  material;  though  an  approach  to  the 
compact  form  of  the  square  or  circle  would 
be  much  preferable  to  a  long,  narrow,  cen- 
tipede-shaped structure  like  the  building  for 
the  Vienna  Exposition.  The  chief  materials 
of  construction  would  be  iron  and  glass. 
These  materials  necessitate  a  light,  airy, 
graceful  style  of  architecture.  As  the  circle 
is  the  simplest  and  most  economical  of  ma- 
terials for  enclosing  a  given  space  of  any 
geometric  figure,  we  will  suppose  the 
ground-plan  of  the  edifice  to  be  round ; 
though  the  mechanical  difficulties  of  erect- 
ing a  circular  building  would  be  somewhat 
greater  than  if  the  shape  were  rectangular. 
The  diameter  of  the  edifice  should  then  be 
at  least  fifteen  hundred  feet.  The  walls  of  a 
circular  building  of  this  size  would  enclose 
an  area  of  a  little  over  forty  acres,  —  not  far 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  51 

from  the  size  of  Boston  Common,  exclusive 
of  the  Public  Garden.  There  may  be  some 
who  will  consider  the  building  of  edifices  of 
such  immense  size  entirely  impracticable ; 
but,  to  the  resources  of  modern  engineering 
and  mechanical  skill,  there  is,  practically,  no 
limit  in  this  direction,  except  the  amount  of 
capital  at  command.  Buildings  of  more 
than  half  the  siz~e  proposed  have  already 
been  erected.  The  London  -  Exhibition 
building  of  1862  covered  an  area,  with  the 
picture-gallery  and  annexes,  of  twenty-four 
and  a  half  acres.  A  forty-acre  building  is 
quite  within  the  limits  of  the  practicable. 

The  walls  of  the  edifice  would  be  forty  or 
fifty  feet  high,  and  would  be  supported  by 
iron  columns  of  the  proper  dimensions, 
bedded  in  concrete  at  the  base,  and  likewise 
by  a  cordon  of  ornamental  iron  towers 
eighteen  or  twenty  feet  in  diameter,  rising 
above  the  walls.  The  vast  expanse  of  the 


52  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

glass  roof  would  be  supported  by  regular 
rows  of  lofty  iron  columns,  upholding  the 
symmetrical  system  of  arches,  girders,  and 
rafters  overhead.  The  roof  would  rise  at  a 
gen  tie,,  regular  pitch  from  the  walls  towards 
the  centre,  where  it  would  be  nearly  a  hun- 
dred feet  from  the  ground  below.  The 

» 

glass  panes  covering  it  would  be  no  less  than 
one-third  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  four 
feet  long*  The  sashes  they  would  be  fitted 
into  would  be  arranged  on  the  well-known 
ridge-and-furrow  principle,  with  alternate 
angular  depressions  and  elevations,  the  lower 
angles  forming  gutters  to  carry  the  rain- 
water into  the  hollow  columns,  whence  it 
would  flow  into  the  system  of  drain-pipes 
and  sewers.  In  the  centre  of  the  edifice 
would  rise  a  dome  of  lofty  proportions, 
artistic  and  graceful  in  its  outlines  and 
adornments.  This  dome  would  be  furnished 
with  ample  ventilators  worked  from  below. 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  53 

The  steam-boilers  for  warming  the  edifice  in 
the  absence  or  inadequacy  of  the  sun's  rays 
would  be  in  the  lower  stories  of  the  towers 
outside  the  walls  ;  which  would  thus  serve  a 
double  use,  besides  being  a  pleasing  archi- 
tectural feature  of  the  building.  Pure  air 
would  constantly  pass  into  the  interior  of 
the  garden  through  a  sufficient  number  of 
apertures  near  each  tower  in  the  lower 
portion  of  the  walls.  This  fresh,  cold  air 
would  be  warmed  on  its  passage  into  the 
building  by  passing  through  net-works  or 
coils  of  hot  steam-pipes.  There  would  thus 
be  an  abundant  and  constant,  though  gentle, 
flow  of  pure,  warm  air  from  all  points  of  the 
base  of  the  garden  'towards  the  centre ; 
where,  in  accordance  with  the  familiar  law 
governing  heated  atmosphere,  it  would  rise 
and  flow  out  through  the  ventilators  in  the 
dome.  Such  a  constant  influx  at  the  base 
and  efflux  at  the  top  of  the  building  would 


54  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

insure  the  greatest  purity  of  the  air  within. 
It  would  have  none  of  the  oppressiveness 
often  experienced  in  a  common,  ill-ventilated 
conservatory,  but  would  be  in  the  highest 
degree  agreeable  and  healthful.  The  means 
of  ventilation  would  be  under  such  easy 
control  as  to  enable  those  in  charge  of  that 
department  to  maintain  a  nearly  uniform 
temperature,  whatever  might  be  the  fluctua- 
tions of  temperature  outside. 

The  aesthetic  details,  the  adornment  of 
the  grounds  inside,  will  now  be  briefly  con- 
sidered. Although  the  constructive  details 
of  form,  size,  materials,  &c.,  have  to  be  first 
considered,  yet  the  adornment  of  the  grounds 
within  the  walls,  and  the  furnishing  of 
ample  means  to  gratify  the  various  mental 
needs  of  a  large  community  of  people  of 
diverse  tastes,  is  a  question  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  success  of  the  undertak- 
ing. In  this,  as  in  all  other  departments, 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  55 

considerations  of  expense  should  not  be 
allowed  to  hinder  the  grand  result  intended 
to  be  accomplished ;  which  would  be  the 
creation  of  an  arboreal  and  floral  Eden, 
where  the  most  consummate  art  would  be  so 
concealed  as  to  seem  only  nature  under 
superior  conditions. 

The  area  of  forty  acres  would  require  for 
its  laying-out  and  embellishment  -the  careful 
thought  of  the  most  accomplished  landscape- 
gardeners.  All  the  attractions  that  un- 
stinted means  can  command  for  the  adorn- 
ment of  pleasure-grounds  would  be  here 
called  into  requisition.  Broad,  winding, 
gravelled  avenues  and  serpentine  paths 
would  lead  among  rock-work,  shrubbery, 
clumps  of  ornamental  trees,  trim  lawns,  and 
parterres  of  flowers ;  over  ravines  spanned 
by  graceful  bridges ;  around  miniature  lakes 
and  fountains ;  and  by  the  side  of  grassy 
banks,  where  the  winter  sunbeams  would 


56  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

linger  as  warmly  as  if  it  were  June.  There 
would  be  swings,  and  archery  and  croquet 
grounds ;  there  would  be  aviaries  of  birds 
from  all  climes ;  there  would  be  a  large  and 
well-stocked  aquarium,  and  a  zoological 
garden  containing  specimens  of  such  animals 
as  are  especially  noted  for  interesting  tricks 
and  manners,  or  for  beauty  of  form  and 
coloring.  Music  would  lend  its  subtle 
charm  ;  birds  of  song  would  flit  among  the 
tree-tops  or  in  the  shrubbery ;  the  bell-like 
notes  of  the  hermit-thrush,  the  haunting 
sweetness  of  the  veery's  song,  the  gushing 
joy  of  the  bobolink,  the  cheerful  refrain  of 
the  song-sparrow,  the  flute-like .  call  of  the 
oriole,  the  robin's  clear  madrigal,  and  the 

blue-bird's  warble,   would  call    up  reminis- 

• 

cences  of  the  bright  days  of  early  summer, 
though  winter  might  still  desolate  the  world 
outside.  At  occasional  times,  the  music  of 
a  large  and  perfectly-trained  orchestra  would 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  57 

set  the  warm  air  of  the  garden  pulsing  with 
the  lively,  the  martial,  or  the  grand  religious 
strains  of  the  great  tone-masters  of  the 
world. 

The  hundreds  of  lofty  iron  columns  re- 
quired to  support  the  crystal  roof  and  the 
vast  dome  would  be  made  to  harmonize 
with  the  scene  by  having  their  formal  out- 
lines concealed  under  a  covering  of  rapidly- 
growing,  climbing  vines.  They  would  thus 
resemble  rather  the  tall  trunks  of  a  symmet- 
rically-planted grove  of  palm-trees,  wreathed 
with  tropic  climbers,  than  the  hard,  unattrac- 
tive supports  of  the  edifice.  Scattered 
everywhere,  singly  and  in  social  groups,  in 
sunny  nooks  and  cosey  corners,  would  be 
found  an  abundance  of  the  most  inviting 
seats  and  lounges.  Seated  or  reclining  in 
these  after  the  needful  exercise  of  the  day, 
the  invalid  visitors  could  pass  the  time  in 
any  rational  way  to  which  they  felt  inclined , 


58  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

in  some  light,  agreeable  work,  in  reading,  in 
conversation,  in  games  of  chance  or  skill,  or 
in  observing  the  animated,  enchanting  scene 
around,  while  listening  to  the  inspiriting 
strains  from  the  orchestra,  or  the  softer 
melody  of  the  singing-birds. 

Within  the  transparent  walls  of  a  palace- 
garden  of  the  size  designated,  ten  thousand 
or  more  visitors  would  find  ample  room  for 
exercise  and  recreation,  an  atmosphere  pure 
and  agreeable  in  temperature,  plenty  of 
opportunities  for  taking  sun-baths,  agreeable 
society,  and  countless  objects  of  interest  to 
occupy  and  interest  their  minds.  The  un- 
healthy mental  habit,  so  common  with  in- 
valids, of  an  introverted,  anxious  study  of 
their  own  symptoms,  would  give  place  to  a 
lively  and  healthy  interest  in  their  novel  and 
delightful  surroundings.  They  would  almost 
forget  that  they  were  invalids  amid  the  mani- 
fold attractions  on  every  hand.  With  none 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  59 

of  the  unfavorable  winter  conditions  of 
ordinary  house-life  to  contend  with,  the 
recuperative  powers  of  the  human  organiza- 
tion, fhe'vis  medicatrix  naturce,  aided  by  the 
pure,  mild  air,  the  regular  exercise,  the 
genial  sunshine,  albeit  of  midwinter,  and 
the  more  healthy  mental  status,  would,  in  a 
large  majority  of  cases  of  phthisis  pulmonalis 
in  its  earlier  stages,  and  in  some  other 
diseases,  soon  show  the  happiest  results ; 
the  irritated,  tuberculous  lungs  would  grad- 
ually heal;  the  wearing  cough  would  sub- 
side ;  the  pains  of  the  rheumatic  would  yield 
to  the  sanitive  influences  of  the  place,  and 
retire  into  some  unknown  limbo,  where  are 
gathered  those  undesirable  things,  which, 
when  happily  lost,  are  never  sought  for 
nor  regretted ;  *  strength  would  return  to 
weakened  frames,  roundness  to  wasted  limbs, 
and  happiness  to  clouded  minds. 

*  Damnum  dbsque  injuria,  as  tlie  lawyers  say. 


60  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

It  is  admitted  that  these  are  rose-colored 
pictures;  but  they  are  in  no  degree  over- 
drawn. They  fall  short  of  what  will  be  re- 
alized when  even  a  small  fraction  of  the  out- 
lay, the  thought,  and  the  time,  that  are  now 
given  to  the  destruction  of  human 'life,  shall 
be  given  to  its  preservation.  So  long  was  it 
taught  in  the  schools  of  medicine,  ex  cathe- 
drd,  that  consumptive  disease  was,  from  its 
nature,  wholly  incurable,  that  the  idea  still 
influences  a  large  portion  of  the  medical 
faculty,  as  well  as  of  the  public  at  large.* 

*  The  science  of  medicine  in  its  present  state  has  re- 
ceived the  hardest  blows  from  its  own  professors.  Here  is 
what  Dr.  John  Mason  Good  says  in  the  premises:  "The 
science  of  medicine  is  a  barbarous  jargon;  and  the  effects 
of  our  medicines  on  the  system  are  in  the  highest  degree 
uncertain;  except,  indeed,  that  they  have  destroyed  more 
lives  than  war,  pestilence,  and  famine  combined."  Simi- 
lar testimony  is  given  by  other  distinguished  physicians, 
among  them  our  own  Dr.  Holmes,  who  thinks,  that,  if  the 
greater  part  of  the  materia  medica  were  thrown  into  the  sea, 
it  would  be  better  for  mankind,  and  worse  for  the  fishes. 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM;  61 

No  doubt  it  is  incurable  by  drugs,  whether 
in  heroic  or  infinitesimal  doses:  but  give 
Mother  Nature  a  fair  chance,  furnish  the 
proper  conditions,  and  she  will  often  per- 
form marvellous  cures.  These  conditions,  it 
is  obvious  to  the  candid,  receptive  mind, 
would  exist  in  perfection  in  a  winter-garden 
like  the  one  described,  —  not  wholly  de- 
scribed, however ;  for  some  important  details 
have  not  been  referred  to. 

The  large  numbers  of  people  that  would 
congregate  at  an  establishment  like  the  one 
under 'consideration  would  need  the  best  of 
boarding  accommodations  close  at  hand,  so 
that  no  exposure  to  cold,  stormy  weather 
need  occur  in  going  to  or  from  the  hotels. 
The  plan  includes  a  broad,  glass-enclosed 
street,  extending  entirely  around  the  central 
edifice,  at  the  distance  of,  perhaps,  three  hun- 
dred feet  from  its  walls.  This  circular  bou- 
levard would  be  at  least  seventy-five  feet 


62  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

wide,  and  would  have  an  ample  carriage- 
way in  the  centre,  paved  with  wood  or 
asphalt,  and  at  the  sides  roomy,  level  walks, 
separated  from  the  carriage-way  by  iron 
railings  covered  with  flowering  vines.  The 
walls  of-  this  boulevard  need  not  be  more 
than  one-third  as  high  as  the  garden-walls, 
and  the  roof  would  be  arched.  It  would  be 
warmed  and  ventilated  like  the  garden,  with 
which  it  would  be  connected  by  glass  pas- 
sage-ways. Here  would  be  the  finest  and 
most  unique  of  street-arcades,  —  a  crystal- 
covered,  circular  Broadway,  or  Boulevard  des 
Italiens,  more  than  a  mile  in  circuit,  adapted 
for  drives,  for  horseback-riding,  or  for  prom- 
enading, and  available  for  use  by  the  most 
susceptible  invalids  in  all  weathers.  Let  the 
storms  of  winter  rage  as  fiercely  as  they 
might  out  of  doors  :  they  would  never  disturb 
the  serene  quiet  and  warmth  of  this  circling 
arcade.  On  its  outer  circumference  would 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  63 

be  the  spacious  hotels  for  the  visitors,  con- 
nected with  it  by  short,  enclosed  passage- 
ways. The  hotels,  twenty  or  thereabouts  in 
number,  would  be  managed  by  thoroughly 
competent  and  trustworthy  persons,  who 
would  see  that  all  reasonable  wants  of  their 
guests  were  provided  for.  The  food  fur- 
nished would  be  nutritious  and  wholesome. 
The  warmth  and  ventilation  of  the  apart- 
ments would  correspond  with  the  rest  of  the 
establishment.  In  the  persons  of  the  land- 
lords would  be  united  the  characters  of  the 
genial,  considerate  host,  and  of  the  intelli- 
gent physician.  Like  the  other  officials  of 
the  place,  they  would  be  picked  men. 

Between  the  garden-walls  and  the  encir- 
cling boulevard  there  would  be  a  ring  of 
ground  open  to  the  outer  air,  three  hundred 
feet  wide,  and  extending  around  the  central 
building.  The  radiating  passage-ways  from 
the  garden  to  the  boulevard,  eight  in  number, 


64  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

would  divide  this  ring  of  ground  into  an 
equal  number  of  distinct  plats,  each  several 
acres  in  extent.  These  open-air  gardens 
would  be  tastefully  laid  out  with  walks, 
grass-plots,  evergreen-trees,  and  shrubbery: 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  high  walls,  they 
would  be  sheltered  from  rude  winds,  and 
would  afford  fine  opportunities  for  exercise 
on  mild,  sunny  days.  They  would  also  con- 
tain the  spacious  buildings  required  for  gym- 
nasia, libraries,  chapels,  galleries  of  art, 
*  museums  of  natural  history,  theatres,  bowl- 
ing-alleys, and  the  like,  needed  for  the  exer- 
cise, amusement,  or  instruction,  of  the  visitors. 
All  of  these  buildings  would  directly  commu- 
nicate with  the  garden,  or  with  the  arcades. 
There  would  also  be  numerous  shops,  of 
various  kinds,  along  the  boulevard.  Shop- 
ping, that  occupation  so  congenial  to  the 
feminine  mind,  and  not  wholly  devoid  of 
attractions  to  the  rougher  sex,  could  thus  be 
done  in  all  weathers. 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  65 

Excepting  at  meal  times,  and  during  the 
hours  required  for  sleep,  but"  little  of  the 
time  of  the  visitors  would  be  passed  in 
the  hotels.  Even  the  evenings  would  be 
chiefly  spent  in  the  garden  and  the  arcades, 
which,  lighted  by  thousands  of  burners,  or 
by  shaded,  electrical  lights,  would  seem  like 
some  enchanting  dream  of  romance.  Foli- 
age never  appears  to  such  beautiful  advan- 
tage as  under  a  strong  artificial  light :  the 
shadows  are  deeper  than  under  the  more 
diffused  light  of  day;  so  that  the  graceful 
spray  and  finely-cut  leafage  of  rare  trees  and 
plants,  in  an  illuminated  pleasure-garden,  are 
brought  out  with  salient  and  picturesque 
distinctness.  With  the  brilliant  light,  the 
sparkling  fountains,  the  cheerful  warmth,  the 
beautiful  foliage  and  flowers,  the  moving 
throngs  of  people,  and  the  delicious  music  of 
the  perfectly-trained  orchestra,  the  garden- 
palace  in  the  evening  would  be  another  "  Pal- 


66  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

ace  of  All  Delights."  For  those  who  chose 
to  attend,  there  would  also  be  the  special 
attractions  of  the  theatres,  concert-halls,  lec- 
ture-rooms, and  other  outside  entertainments. 
Amid  such  an  endless  variety  of  attractions, 
there  would  be  no  opportunity  for  indulging 
morbid  fancies  or  forebodings.  Cheerfulness 
would  take  the  place  of  despondency,  or  of 
oft-recurring  apprehensions  for  the  future ; 
and  thus  the  medicament  of  the  healing 
forces  of  Nature  would  have  a  fair  field  for 
its  restorative  effects. 

Works  have  been  written  to  show  the 
powerful  influence  of  the  mind  over  the 
body,  either  for  good  or  ill ;  but  this  extraor- 
dinary influence  of  mental  conditions  in  its 
sanitive  aspect  is  not  recognized,  nor  taken 
advantage  of,  as  it  should  be,  by  any  system 
of  therapeutics  yet  established.  Imagina- 
tion is  a  more  potent  remedy  in  disease  than 
all  the  drugs  in  the  pharmacopoeia.  Well- 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  67 

authenticated  instances  show  that  it  is  some- 
times capable  of  causing  death,  and  its 
re-vitalizing  power  over  its  physical  integu- 
ment is  equally  well  established.  Napoleon's 
saying,  that  "  imagination  rules  the  world," 
is  no  less  true  of  the  little  world,  the  mi- 
crocosm of  man's  personality,  than  of  the 
world  of  affairs.  In  our  ideal  establishment, 
the  influence  of  the  imagination  would  be 
taken  advantage  of  in  all  possible  ways  to 
assist  in  overcoming  disease. 

In  the  foregoing  necessarily  imperfect 
description  of  what  is  desirable  in  a  remedial 
establishment  for  large  classes  of  invalids, 
there  is  nothing  that  cannot  be  easily  realized, 
when  the  importance  of  the  subject  shall  be 
impressed,  as  it  should  be,  on  the  minds  of 
philanthropists  and  capitalists.  As  a  paying 
investment,  such  a  winter-resort  would  un- 
doubtedly surpass  most  of  the  popular  stocks 
that  command  a  premium  on  Wall  or  State 


68  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

Street.  Although  the  data  are  not  all 
attainable  on  which  to  base  an  exact  calcula- 
tion of  the  cost  of  constructing  and  of  operat- 
ing a  sanitarium  on  the  scale  indicated,  yet 
it  is  possible  to  form  an  approximate  estimate 
of  these  expenses,  as  well  as  of  the  probable 
returns  or  profits. 

In  an  article  in  "  The  Atlantic  Monthly  " 
for  March,  1873,  and  on  which  this  essay  is 
partly  based,  some  calculations  were  entered 
into  as  to  the  amount  of  capital  needed,  and 
the  cost  of  operating,  as  well  as  of  the  pecu- 
niary returns  that  could  be  reasonably 
expected.  The  Crystal  Palace  of  1851  was 
taken  as  a  basis  of  calculation.  That  edifice 
contained  thirty-three  million  cubic  feet  of 
space ;  and  it  cost  at  the  rate  of  one  penny 
and  one-twelfth  per  cubic  foot,  or  an  aggre- 
gate of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  Our  ideal  sanitarium  would  con- 
tain about  four  times  the  cubic  space  of  the 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  69 

Crystal  Palace,  including  garden,  dome,  tow- 
ers, and  arcades,  in  the  calculation,  but  not 
the  hotels  and  other  outside  buildings.  At 
the  same  rate  per  foot  as  the  London  Palace 
cost,  it  would  require  the  sum  of  six  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  or  about  three  millions  of 
dollars,  in  its  construction.  Owing,  however, 
to  the  much  higher  prices  of  labor  and  mate- 
rials in  this  country  than  in  England,  and 
their  general  advance  in  both  countries  since 
1851,  our  garden-palace  would  cost  more 
than  twice  the  amount  named.  To  be  on 
the  liberal  side,  we  will  estimate  its  cost  at 
eight  millions  of  dollars  of  our  currency. 
For  the  land  and  its  grading,  drainage,  and 
ornamentation,  and  for  the  hotels  and  other 
needful  structures,  four  millions  more  would 
most  probably  be  sufficient.  Twelve  mil- 
lions of  dollars  *  would,  therefore,  be  the 

*  This  amount  is  about  the  estimated   cost   of   the 
Hoosac  Tunnel,  when  completed. 


70  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

estimated  capital  required.  The  interest  on 
this  amount,  at  the  liberal  rate  of  eight  per 
cent,  would  be  nine  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year.  The  working  expenses 
are  somewhat  more  difficult  to  estimate.  A 
somewhat  careful  study  of  the  subject  leads 
to  the  conclusion,  that  the  running  expenses, 
including  the  cost  of  boarding  ten  thousand 
visitors  from  the  1st  of  November  to  the 
1st  of  June,  would  not  exceed  $2,500,000  a 
year.  Adding  this  amount  to  the  interest  on 
the  capital,  we  have  the  sum  of  $3,460,000 
as  the  outgoes  of  each  working  year.  To 
meet  these  expenses  would  be  the  board-bills 
of  the  visitors  for  the  season. 

The  price  of  board  at  the  hotels  should  be 
placed  as  low  as  possible,  so  that  people  of 
limited  means  could  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the 
sanitarium  as  well  as  the  rich.  Large  num- 
bers of  people  can  be  provided  for  at  a  much 
lower  rate  per  capita  than  small  numbers 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  71 

would  cost.  Two  dollars  a  day  will  not 
seem  an  unreasonable  price,  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  it  is  much  lower  than  the  cost 
of  living  in  first-class  city  hotels  or  at  any 
popular  Southern  winter-resort,  and  that 
here  all  the  inestimable  advantages  of  the 
garden  would  be  thrown  in.  At  two  dollars 
a  day,  the  board-bills  of  ten  thousand  visit- 
ors for  thirty  weeks  would  foot  up  the  very 
large  sum  of  $4,200,000,  or  $740,000  more 
than  the  interest  on  the  capital  at  eight  per 
cent  and  the  estimated  working-expenses 
united.  This  surplus  would  certainly  furnish 
a  reserve-fund  large  enough  to  meet  any 
unforeseen  outlay  that  might  occur. 

Let  no  person  of  little  faith  suppose  for  a 
moment  that  there  would  be  any  lack  of 
visitors  at  a  winter-resort  like  the  one  under 
consideration,  even  if  the  per  diem  were 
twice  the  rates  proposed.  "All  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life."  During  the 


72  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

time  that  would  be  required  to  complete  such 
an  establishment,  its  great  magnitude,  its 
novel  plan,  its  unexampled  attractions,  and 
its  presumable  sanitary  advantages,  would  be 
thoroughly  canvassed,  not  only  in  our  own 
land,  but  all  over  that  part  of  the  globe  to 
which  the  newspaper-press  has  access.  It 
would  be  advertised  gratuitously  among  all 
peoples,  and  invalids  of  every  Northern 
country  would  desire  to  avail  themselves  of 
its  undoubted  benefits.  From  the  opening 
day  the  hotels  would  be  filled  to  their  ca- 
pacity with  the  weak-lunged,  the  rheumatic, 
and  the  declining.  But  the  phthisical  and 
the  rheumatic  would  not  be  the  only  classes 
to  whom  the  winter-garden  would  be  a  de- 
lightful haven  of  rest,  where  the  constitution 
could  recover  from  the  injurious  effects  of 
exposure  to  a  stormy  world,  or  of  an  ignorant 
disregard  of  hygienic  laws.  Carlyle,  in  one 
of  his  dyspeptic  moods,  —  if,  indeed,  he  have 


PLAN   FOR   A   SANITARIUM.  73 

moods  of  any  other  sort  in  these  latter  days, 
-  tells  with  grim  humor  of  the  time  when 
he  first  became  aware  that  he  possessed  a 
diabolical  apparatus  called  a  stomach.  In  a 
land  where  pork  in  all  its  Protean  forms, 
and  hot  saleratus-bread,  form  the  chief  sta- 
ples of  diet,  there  are  multitudes  who  have 
arrived  at  the  same  disagreeable  knowledge 
in  regard  to  their  epigastric  region  that  dis- 
turbed the  Chelsea  sage.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  some  forms  of  dyspepsia,  for  which  a 
mild  winter  climate  is  recommended,  would 
readily  yield  to  the  magnetic  warmth,  the 
wholesome,  well-cooked,  nutritious  food,  and 
the  systematic  exercise,  furnished  by  the  pro- 
posed sanitive  establishment.  And  there 
are  still  other  classes  to  whom  a  residence 
within  its  walls  would  insure  speedy  relief 
from  their  maladies,  and,  finally,  a  permanent 
cure:  one  such  class,  for  instance,  would 
consist  of  the  vast  army  of  performers  on 


74  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

what  Charles  Dickens  called  the  "  great 
American  catarrh,"  although  the  instrument 
is  well  known  in  England  and  other  coun- 
tries. 

Who  will  have  the  hardihood  to  say  that 
the  winter-garden  would  lack  patronage, 
when  there  are  so  many  times  ten  thousand 
people  in  the  land,  without  including  visitors 
from  other  lands,  who  would  anxiously  watch 
its  progress  to  completion,  and  joyfully  avail 
themselves  of  its  unexampled  advantages  ? 

There  is,  however,  another  view  of  the 
subject,  well  worthy  of  having  a  volume 
written  in  its  elucidation,  but  which  can 
only  be  briefly  touched  upon  here ;  and  that 
is  the  advantages  of  such  a  winter-resort  for 
well  people.  Even  if  an  acknowledged 
invalid  were  never  allowed  to  enter  its  gates, 
a  place  with  such  marvellous  and  unique 
charms  as  the  winter-garden  would  possess 
would  be  thronged  for  half  the  year  by 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  75 

people  of  wealth,  culture,  and  fashion  from 
all  parts  of  the  land.  No  city  in  America 
can  at  present  offer  such  allurements  to 
men  and  women  of  means  —  whether  they 
were  refined  and  intellectual,  or  sensuous 
and  superficial  —  as  would  be  concentrated 
within  the  limits  of  the  establishment.  New 
York's  summer  pride  and  joy,  the  beautiful 
Central  Park,  would  appear  bleak  and  barren 
under  a  wintry  sky  compared  with  the 
wealth  of  verdure  and  of  bloom  to  be  found 
under  the  forty  acres  of  crystal  forming  the 
garden-roof.  The  elite  of  the  great  cities 
would  flock  to  it,  as  in  summer  they  seek 
the  cool  breezes  of  the  mountains,  or  of 
Newport,  Long  Branch,  and  Cape  May. 
Within  its  sheltered  precinct  they  would 
escape  all  the  multiplied  discomforts  of  city 
streets  in  winter  and  spring,  —  the  driving 
storms  of  rain  and  snow,  the  blustering 
north-west  gales,  the  slippery  sidewalks,  the 


76  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

almost  endless  mud  and  slush,  and  the  blind- 
ing clouds  of  dust,  that  make  a  Northern  city 
in  winter,  for  all  its  social,  artistic,  and  lite- 
rary attractions,  a  most  wretched  place  of 
abode  for  sensitive  people.  The  contrast 
between  the  comfortless  streets  and  squares 
of  the  cities  in  winter,  with  the  verdant 
beauty  and  the  quiet  warmth  of  the  winter- 
garden  during  the  same  season,  would  be  too 
great  to  pass  unheeded  among  the  wealthy 
residents  of  Northern  towns.  At  the  garden 
they  would  not  only  escape  all  the  discom- 
forts named ;  but  they  would  find,  besides 
warmth  and  greenery,  all  the  means  for 
amusement  or  culture  they  left  behind  in  the 
storm-scourged  city.  Operas,  concerts,  thea- 
tres, lectures,  libraries,  galleries,  museums, 
—  all  of  high  excellence,  —  would  occupy  the 
charmed  hours.  The  broad,  circling,  arch- 
roofed  boulevard  would  be  a  more  thronged 
and  fashionable  drive  on  a  mid-winter's  day 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  77 

than  even  the  avenue  at  Newport  on  an 
August  afternoon.  Owners  of  fast  trotters 
and  of  stylish  turnouts  would  all  be  anxious 
to  display  their  teams  and  themselves  on 
such  a  novel  and  magnificent  track  before 
the  assembled  wealth  and  fashion  of  the 
land.  Each  ingredient  that  goes  to  make 
up  the  summer  crowd  at  a  great  watering- 
place  would  find  its  counterpart  here,  —  for- 
tune-hunters of  both  sexes,  mammas  with 
marriageable  and  unmarriageable  daughters, 
fast  young  men,  and  flirting,  gay  young 
women.  All  of  these  well-known  types 
would  muster  in  their  usual  force ;  but  there 
would  also  be  very  many  visitors  of  a  differ- 
ent stamp,  —  people  of  refined  manners  and 
cultivated  minds,  whose  combined  influence 
would  be  felt  in  the  tone  of  the  place,  and 
would  not  be  without  its  beneficial  effect  on 
even  the  brainless  fops  and  feminine  votaries 
of  millinery.  Poets,  artists,  essayists,  novel- 


78  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

ists,  would  find  here  endless  suggestions  and 
materials  to  work  into  poems,  pictures,  es- 
says, and  stories.  Especially  would  the 
many  educated,  delicate,  sensitive,  spirituelle 
young  and  middle-aged  women  that  are  to 
be  found  in  wealthy  families,  and  whose 
poetic,  impressible  natures,  and  general  frail- 
ness of  organization,  make  them  keenly  alive 
to  the  discomforts  caused  by  the  atmospheric 
changes  of  winter,  find  an  earthly  paradise 
within  the  genial  realm  of  glass,  where  win- 
ter and  rough  weather  were  obsolete  terms. 

It  has  already  been  shown,  that,  if  any 
reliance  whatever  can  be  placed  upon  d  priori 
estimates,  such  a  winter  gathering-place 
would  be  a  profitable  investment  of  capital ; 
but  an  important  source  of  income  was  not 
mentioned.  A  location  would  be  chosen 
where  land  was  comparatively  cheap,  and  a 
tract  of  several  thousand  acres  secured. 
Two  or  three  hundred  acres  immediately 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  79 

surrounding  the  establishment  would  be 
reserved  for  an  outside  park.  It  would  be 
finely  laid  out,  and  ornamented  with  drives, 
foot-paths,  skating-ponds,  groves  of  decidu- 
ous and  evergreen  trees,  trim  hedge-rows, 
and  shrubbery.  This  outer  park  would  be 
the  pleasure-resort  of  the  visitors  on  fine, 
sunny  days.  The  remainder  of  the  land 
outside  of  the  park  would  be  surveyed  and 
mapped  into  lots,  streets,  and  squares,  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  a  large,  prospective 
population.  People  of  all  trades  and  occupa- 
tions would  be  drawn  towards  the  city  of 
glass,  to  supply  the  wants,  real  or  fanciful,  of 
its  thousands  of  inhabitants.  Men  of  wealth 
and  taste  would  surround  the  park  with 
ornamental  villas.  A  large  and  prosperous 
town,  ultimately  to  grow  into  a  city,  would 
inevitably  soon  crystallize  within  sight  of  the 
lofty  dome  of  the  garden-palace,  —  a  Dome 
of  the  Invalides  of  even  more  magnificent 


80  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

proportions  than  the  famous  landmark  of 
strangers  in  the  French  capital.  Building- 
lots  could  not  be  otherwise  than  in  brisk 
demand  in  the  vicinity  of  a  magnet  so 
powerful.  The  income  to  the  corporation 
from  this  source  alone  would  be  very  great. 
Four  large,  distinct  towns  have  sprung  up 
around  the  Sydenham  Palace  since  its  erec- 
tion a  few  years  ago.  Another  source  of 
income  would  be  the  rent  of  stores  along  the 
circular  boulevard,  or  the  lease  of  land  for 
their  erection  by  other  parties. 

Thus  far  the  sanitarium,  or  the  garden- 
palace,  has  been  considered  only  in  its  win- 
ter aspect ;  but,  paradoxical  and  improbable 
as  it  may  seem,  it  can  be  demonstrated  that 
its  sanitive  effects  during  hot  weather  would 
be  scarcely  less  than  during  the  cold  season. 
This  statement  will  excite  the  surprise  and 
incredulity  of  many  who  have  not  considered 
the  subject  in  all  its  bearings,  nor  familiar- 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  81 

ized  themselves  with  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant inventions  and  discoveries  of  the  age. 

It  is  well  known  that  hot  weather  is  often 
quite  as  injurious  to  those  suffering  from 
pulmonary  disease  as  the  cold,  changeable 
weather  of  winter.  Dr.  Ramadge  of  London, 
in  his  work  on  Consumption,  stated  that  the 
cases  of  this  disease  that  came  under  his 
notice  in  summer  were  nearly  double  the 
number  that  he  treated  in  winter.  He 
gives  as  the  cause  of  this  increase  the  aug- 
mented temperature  of  the  weather,  increas- 
ing the  intensity  of  two  of  the  most  important 
stages  of  the  hectic  paroxysm,  —  the  hot  and 
the  sweating.  Dr.  Rush  also  found  the  sum- 
mers of  Philadelphia  very  unfavorable  to 
those  having  this  disease.  The  mortuary 
statistics  of  Massachusetts  show  that  about 
as  many  die  of  lung-disease  in  summer  as  in 
winter. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  from  the   above 


82  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

and  much  other  evidence  that  might  be 
adduced,  that  those  afflicted  with  pulmonary 
disease  need  a  mild,  equable  temperature  all 
the  year  round.  A  .temperature  never  rising 
much  above  65°  Fahrenheit,  nor  falling 
much  below  that  point,  would  undoubtedly 
be  the  best.  It  has  already  been  shown  that 
such  a  temperature  could  be  easily  main- 
tained in  the  glass  garden  during  the  cold 
season ;  and  it  is  proposed  to  show  that  the 
temperature  of  the  air  within  could  be  kept 
down  to  that  point  during  the  hottest  days 
of  summer. 

A  few  years  since  a  machine  was  intro- 
duced into  some  of  the  English  collieries  to 
perform  the  difficult  and  dangerous  work  of 
kirving,  or  cutting  under  the  seams  of  coal ;  * 
an  operation  which  had  previously  been  per- 

*  Compressed  air  was  first  practically  used  in  the  con- 
struction and  ventilation  of  the  Mont-Cenis  Tunnel,  and  it 
has  since  been  used  in  the  Hoosac  and  other  tunnels. 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  83 

formed  by  hand,  and  by  which  many  lives 
had  been  destroyed.  The  machine  did  the 
work  much  quicker,  cheaper,  and  better  than 
it  had  previously  been  done ;  and  at  the  same 
time  it  produced  another  most  important 
benefit,  —  it  cooled  and  ventilated  the  mines. 
It  was  operated  by  means  of  air,  highly  com- 
pressed by  an  engine  at  the  mouth  of  the 
mine,  and  conducted  by  flexible  tubes  to  the 
required  spot.  According  to  a  well-known 
law  in  physics,  air,  when  compressed  to  a 
sufficient  degree,  is  deprived  of  its  heat. 
Tyndall  has  lately  succeeded  in  compressing 
it  to  such  a  degree,  that,  when  it  issued  from 
the  pipe,  it  was  so  intensely  cold  as  to  con- 
geal all  the  moisture  of  the  room  into  minute 
snowflakes.  In  the.  collieries  it  was  found 
that  the  air  used  to  drive  the  machines  at  a 
pressure  of  three  atmospheres,  or  somewhat 
over  forty  pounds  to  the  square  inch,  issued 
from  the  conducting  pipes  at  nearly  a  freez- 


84  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

ing  temperature.  The  oppressive  warmth 
natural  to  deep  mines  was  very  sensibly 
diminished,  and  the  condition  of  the  air 
within  was  also  materially  improved,  by  the 
constant  influx  of  pure  cold  air  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground.  Air,  artificially 
reduced  in  volume,  has  since  been  applied  to 
other  purposes,  such  as  ventilating  long  rock 
tunnels  during  excavation,  and  driving  the 
perforating  machines.* 


*  "For  the  construction  of  the  tunnel  (Mont  Cenis),  the 
great  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  engineers  is  com- 
pressed air.  And  what  an  instrument  it  is !  By  its  aid 
they  furnish  air  for  respiration,  wind  to  drive  away 
vapors,  power  to  run  machines ;  they  eject  water  to  play 
against  the  rock,  produce  cold  to  temper  the  atmosphere, 
and  heat  by  a  blast  at  the  forges  near  the  entrance.  Thus 
air,  wind,  power,  water,  cold,  heat,  can  all  be  applied, 
and  precisely  where  they  are  wanted.  This  sounds  like 
fable  ;  but  it  is  a  literal  truth."  —  Report  on  European 
Tunnels  by  CHABLES  S.  STOBBOW,  1862;  Massachusetts 
Reports. 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  85 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  compressed 
air  is  the  easily-applied  remedy  for  too  high 
a  temperature  in  buildings  as  well  as  in 
mines.  The  boilers  in  the  basements  of  the 
iron  towers  surrounding  the  sanitarium, 
which  in  winter  would  furnish  steam  to 
warm  the  edifice,  would,  during  hot  summer 
days,  furnish  the  force  for  working  many 
powerful  compressing  engines.  Pipes  of 
suitable  size  would  lead  underground  from 
the  towers  to  all  parts  of  the  interior,  where 
the  compressed,  refrigerated  air  would  escape 
through  large,  concealed  registers,  perforated 
with  small  holes  like  a  cullender  or  the  fine 
rose  of  a  watering-pot.  The  powerful  jets  of 
cold  air  would  thus  be  so  sifted,  or  divided, 
that  they  would  escape  ordinary  notice. 
Cold  air  being  heavier  than  warm,  it  would 
remain  in  the  lower  portion  of  the  garden, 
where  it  would  do  the  most  good,  until 
warmed  by  the  sun,  when  it  would  rise,  and 


86  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

flow  out  through  the  upper  ventilators  to 
make  room  for  a  fresh  supply.  Portions  of 
the  roof  would  be  shaded  by  canvas  awnings 
during  hot  weather;  and  the  refrigerating 
effect  of  the  compressed  air  would  be  further 
aided  by  closing  the  ventilators  in  the  lower 
portions  of  the  edifice,  while  those  in  the 
dome  and  roof  would  remain  open. 

By  the  means  above  mentioned,  the  sum- 
mer temperature  of  the  sanitarium  could  be 
kept  down  to  any  desirable  point.  The  air 
within  would  be  perfectly  pure  and  pleasant- 
ly cool,  like  mountain-air  in  warm  weather. 
The  susceptible  visitors  would  encounter 
none  of  those  sudden  atmospheric  changes 
common  to  our  climate  at  all  seasons,  and 
which  are  quite  as  injurious  in  their  effects 
upon  invalids  in  summer  as  in  winter.  So 
far  as  the  important  conditions  of  tempera- 
ture and  pure  air  could  aid  in  the  recovery 
of  the  visitors,  they  would  be  far  better  situ- 


PLAN  FOR  A   SANITARIUM.  87 

ated  than  they  could  be  in  any  natural 
climate  to  be  found  on  the  globe.  Their 
surroundings  also,  social,  entertaining,  sani- 
tive,  and  educational,  would  far  surpass  any 
other  summer-resort  in  the  country.  Invalids, 
however  querulous  and  notional  some  of 
them  may  often  appear,  are  still  an  intelli- 
gent class :  they  would  not  be  backward  in 
recognizing,  and  availing  themselves  of,  the 
inestimable  advantages  of  such  a  refuge  from 
the  debilitating  heat  of  the  dog-days.  The 
sanitarium  in  summer  would  be  quite  as  well 
patronized  as  during  the  wintry  season. 
Like  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  it  would  have  its 
own  climate,  independent  of  the  changing 
seasons  outside.  To  its  equable  temperature 
would  apply  the  description  of  Madame  de 
Stacl  of  the  unvarying  climate  of  the 
interior  of  the  great  Roman  basilica :  "  II 
a  ses  saisons  a  lui,  son  printemps  perpetuel, 
que  1' atmosphere  du  dehors  n'altere  jamais." 


88  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

But  the  perpetual  spring  of  St.  Peter's,  with 
its  "  dim  religious  light,"  its  cold  stone 
floor,  and  its  ponderous  columns,  could  bear 
no  comparison  with  the  cheerful  brightness, 
the  expanded  area,  and  the  leafy  beauty,  of 
our  ideal  garden-palace. 

Such  is  a  general  description  of  the  author's 
plan  of  a  sanitarium,  on  a  scale  commensu- 
rate in  some  degree  with  the  importance  of 
the  end  to  be  subserved,  but  not  all  beyond 
the  resources  of  any  large  civilized  commu- 
nity to  carry  out.  Even  if  all  the  details  of 
the  plan  were  perfected  (which,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  they  are  not),  they  could  not  well  be 
given  in  an  essay  intended  to  be  untechnical 
and  popular  in  its  scope.  Many  desirable 
minor  features  of  the  plan,  that  have  recom- 
mended themselves  to  the  approval  of  the 
writer  during  his  study  of  the  subject,  have 
not  been  mentioned.  For  instance,  the  walls 
inside  of  the  central  garden,  as  well  as  of  the 


PLAN  FOR  A  SANITARIUM.  89 

arcade  and  connecting  passage-ways,  could 
be  utilized  to  advantage  by  training  up  the 
supporting  columns  and  mullions  thousands 
of  vines  of  the  Hamburg,  Chasselas,  Muscat, 
and  other  fine  varieties  of  foreign  grapes 
which  will  thrive  in  this  climate  only  under 
glass.  Great  quantities  of  the  finest  fruit 
could  be  grown  and  ripened  in  this  way 
without  extra  expense,  which,  with  a  little 
care  in  keeping,  would  supply  the  hotel- 
tables  throughout  the  winter  with  grapes  for 
the  dessert,  contributing  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  health  and  gratification  of  the  visitors. 
Another  plan  of  utility,  which  would  recom- 
mend itself  especially  to  those  many  visitors 
who  were  lovers  of  fancy  poultry,  would  be 
to  use  one  or  more  of  the  open-air  gardens, 
between  the  central  edifice  and  the  arcade, 
for  extensive  poultry-yards.  In  these  large, 
sheltered,  sunny  ranges,  numerous  flocks  of 
the  best  breeds  of  gallinaceous  and  aquatic 


90  LIFE  UNDER  GLASS. 

fowls  would  help  to  furnish  eggs  and  chick- 
ens for  the  tables  d'hdte;  and,  besides,  would 
be  a  pleasing  addition  to  the  amusements  of 
the  guests.  But  many  such  details  as  these 
must  be  left  till  the  capital  is  subscribed,  a 
board  of  directors  chosen,  a  location  pur- 
chased, and  the  ground-plan  and  elevation 
of  the  buildings  decided  upon. 


CHAPTER   III. 

CONCLUSION. 

THERE  is  a  homely  Scotch  proverb,  the 
sentiment  of  which  Emerson  has  finely  elab- 
orated in  his  essay  on  "  Compensation," 
which  says,  "There  was  never  a  stinging 
nettle  that  hadn't  a  dockin-leaf  close  beside 
it :  "  the  moral  deducible  from  which  is,  that, 
for  nearly  all  the  evils  of  this  world,  a  remedy 
is  to  be  found  close  at  hand. 

The  dockin-leaf  that  is  to  cure  the  wounds 
caused  by  the  stinging  nettles  of  harsh  cli- 
mates is  the  glass  pane,  aided  by  other 
appliances,  some  of  which  have  been  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  pages.  It  needs  no 
belief  in  a  future  millennium  to  be  very  cer- 

91 


92  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

tain  that  the  years  of  the  world  yet  to  come 
will  see  a  greater  regard  for  human  life,  and 
a  more  earnest  effort  to  prevent  its  needless 
waste,  than  prevails  at  present.  As  it  is,  man 
does  not  live  out  half  his  allotted  days. 
If  we  accept  the  deductions  of  M.  Flourens, 
the  eminent  French  savant,  then  a  person 
who  has  reached  the  threescore  and  ten 
years  of  the  Psalmist  ought  to  be  scarcely 
beyond  the  prime  of  life.  Flourens'  investi- 
gations into  the  laws  governing  the  duration 
of  animal  life,  though  perhaps  not  entirely 
reliable,  have  yet  a  certain  interest ;  and  his 
conclusions  in  regard  to  the  natural  limit  of 
human  life  may  be  correct,  even  should  the 
premises  on  which  they  were  based  prove  to 
be  untenable.  He  found,  that,  as  a  rule,  the 
inferior  animals  live  on  the  average  about 
five  times  as  long  as  the  time  it  takes  them 
to  attain  their  full  growth.  Thus  a  horse  is 
about  five  years  in  getting  his  growth ;  and 


CONCLUSION.  93 

I 

the  average  age  of  horses  is  not  far  from 
twenty-five  years :  and  so  of  other  animals, 
domestic  and  wild.  Reasoning  from  analogy, 
Flourens  concluded,  that,  as  the  same  laws 
of  being  govern  mankind  that  rule  the 
destinies  of  horses  and  other  animals,  and 
as  it  requires  twenty  years  for  man  to  get  his 
growth,  then  the  average  duration  of  human 
life  should  be  five  times  twenty,  or  one  hun- 
dred years.  "  A  man  between  sixty  and 
seventy,"  says  the  ingenious  Frenchman, 
"  ought  to  be  only  in  the  full  maturity  of  his 
powers,  physical  and  intellectual."* 

Whether  this  hypothesis  of  the  natural 
limit  of  human  existence  is  the  true  one  or 
not,  it  is  evident  that  some  do  attain  a  life  of 
one  hundred  years  and  upwards ;  and  perhaps 
all  would,  if  inherited  tendencies  and  sur- 

*  For  a  full  exposition  of  this  theory  of  M.  Flourens, 
see  his  work  entitled  "  De  la  Longevite  Humaine,  et  de  la 
Quantite'  de  Vie  sur  le  Globe." 


94  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

rounding  circumstances  were  equally  favora- 
ble to  length  of  days.  But  sanitary  science 
will  have  to  make  long  strides  before  cente- 
narians become  very  plenty  in  our  streets. 
Before  that  far-off  time  arrives,  consumption, 
which  sweeps  off  the  very  flower  of  human- 
ity at  the  present  day,  will  be  so  far  con- 
quered as  to  demand  a  much  less  proportion 
of  the  victims  of  the  grim  destroyer  than  one 
out  of  five.  As  some  of  the  readers  of  these 
pages  may  be  inclined  to  doubt  the  curabil- 
ity of  this  disease,  even  in  its  earlier  aspects, 
it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  quote  the  opin- 
ion of  the  celebrated  Laennec,  one  of  the 
most  skilful  physicians  that  ever  lived,  and 
who  made  the  study  of  pulmonary  disease  a 
specialty. 

44 The  cure  of  consumption,"*  says  Laen- 

*  "La  guerison  daiis  les  cas  de  phthisie  pulmonaire  ou 
1'organe  n'a  pas  ete  entierement  envahi,  ne  presente,  ce 
me  senible,  aucun  caractere  d'impossibilite,  ni  sous  le 
rapport  de  la  nature  du  mal,  ni  sous  celui  de  1'organe 
affecteV 


CONCL  US  ION.  95 

nec,  "  when  the  lungs  have  not  been  entirely 
disorganized,  ought  not  to  be  considered  at 
all  impossible,  either  as  regards  the  nature 
of  the  disease  or  the  part  affected.  The 
destruction  of  a  part  of  the  substance  of  the 
lungs  is  not  necessarily  mortal,  since  even 
wounds  of  this  organ  are  frequently  healed." 

Dr.  Caswell,  the  almost  equally  eminent 
English  physician,  adds  his  testimony  to  that 
of  his  French  confrere.  He  emphatically 
says,  — 

"  We  cannot  avoid  repeating  the  fact,  that 
pathological  anatomy  has,  perhaps,  never 
afforded  more  conclusive  evidence  in  proof  of 
the  curability  of  a  disease  than  it  has  in  that 
of  tubercular  phthisis."  Testimony  of  the 
same  tenor  from  other  distinguished  physi- 
cians might  be  cited,  if  this  were  meant  to 
be  an  exhaustive  treatise  on  pulmonary  dis- 
ease. But  it  will  suffice,  for  the  purposes  of 
an  untechnical  essay,  to  bring  forward  two 


96  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

such  names  as  the  above  in  support  of  the 
position  that  consumptive  disease  is  not 
necessarily  fatal ;  that,  unless  too  deeply 
rooted,  it  will  yield  to  the  healing  forces  of 
nature,  if  the  proper  conditions  of  air,  tem- 
perature, exercise,  and  diet,  are  furnished  to 
the  patient.  It  has  been  the  object  to  show, 
in  the  previous  chapters,  that  these  condi- 
tions could  be  found  in  perfection  nowhere 
else  than  in  a  sanitarium  like  or  resembling 
the  one  described.  Such  an  establishment 
would  be  under  the  charge  of  a  superintend- 
ing physician  of  the  highest  intelligence  and 
the  strictest  integrity,  assisted  by  a  corps  of 
subordinates  selected  for  the  same  qualities. 
All  the  means  that  have  proved  beneficial 
in  the  treatment  of  the  malady,  such  as  con- 
centrated nutriment,  vocal  gymnastics,  in- 
spiration and  expiration  of  the  breath 
through  tubes,  &c.,  would  be  discriminatingly 
used  to  assist  Nature  in  her  efforts  to  throw 


CONCLUSION.  97 

off  the  disease.     As  to  prevent  is   always 
better  than  to  cure,  those  persons  who  were 
attacked   with   the   symptoms    of    incipient 
phthisis  would  find  the  sanitarium  a  ready 
refuge,  where  all  such  unfavorable  symptoms 
would    speedily    vanish    under    the    genial 
influences  of  the  place.     If  such  an  establish- 
ment were  under  the  control  of  the  State, 
and  if  it  were  made  compulsory  upon  physi- 
cians to  report  every  case  of  incipient  lung- 
disease  to  the  proper  authorities  as  is  now 
the  case  in  regard  to   small-pox,  then   the 
immediate  removal  of  such   persons  to   the 
sanitarium  would  insure  their  speedy  recov- 
ery; and  thus  the  dragon  of  Consumption, 
having  no  victims  to  feed  upon,  would,  with 
a  sort  of  poetic  justice,  die  of  atrophy.     The 
philanthropist,  the  capitalist,  or  the  legisla- 
tor, who  shall  aid  in  such  a  desirable  result, 
will  deserve,  far  more  than  that  old  knight 
of  Malta  for  his  battle  with  the  python,  to 


98  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

have  the  title  "  Draconis  Extinctor  "  engraved 
upon  his  monument. 

In  the  preceding  pages  some  hard  things 
have  been  said  about  our  American  climate, 
which  were,  nevertheless,  quite  within  the 
bounds  of  truth.  But  equally  hard  things 
have  been  said  of  other  climates.  None  of 
the  earth  climates  is  perfect  in  all  respects. 
The  writer  once  saw  a  weather-diary  that 
had  been  kept  by  a  person  of  a  somewhat 
sensitive,  poetic  nature.  In  it  he  had  noted 
down  all  the  days  in  the  year  when  the 
weather  seemed  to  him  to  be  perfect,  —  days 
when  it  was  neither  too  hot  nor  too  cold, 
neither  too  wet  nor  too  dry,  too  windy  nor 
too  cloudy.  The  number  of  such  perfect 
days,  according  to  his  reckoning,  amounted 
to  just  five  out  of  the  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  !  Perhaps  other  years  would  show 
a  better  record,  and  a  less  fastidious  observer 
might  have  recorded  more  days  that  were 


CONCL  USION.  99 

perfect  in  the  same  year.  To  a  person  full- 
blooded  and  in  vigorous  health,  the  weather, 
save  as  it  affects  his  material  interests,  is  a 
matter  of  little  concern.  To  such  a  one,  ex- 
posure to  the  bracing,  wintry  north-westers 
exhilarates  and  tones  the  whole  system ;  and 
a  poetic  temperament,  even  in  a  frail  physi- 
cal organization,  will  find  a  keen  delight  in 
threading  woodland  paths  while  the  wintry 
gales  are  sweeping  through  the  tree-tops 
overhead.  What  Goethe  said  of  youth,  that 
it  is  intoxicated  without  wine,  might  be  often 
said  at  such  times  of  middle  age,  if  not  of 
senility.  But,  after  making  all  due  allow- 
ance for  the  good  points  which  our  American 
climate  undeniably  has,  the  fact  still  remains, 
that  a  great  majority  of  the  days  of  the  year 
are  not  as  agreeable  nor  as  healthful  to  peo- 
ple of  sensitive  organizations  —  which  term 
includes  most  women  as  well  as  many  men 
—  as  they  might  be.  It  will  be  one  of  the 


100  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

chief  objects  of  the  social  and  sanitary 
sqience  of  the  future,  to  neutralize,  as  far  as 
possible,  these  defects  of  climate. 

In  submitting  to  the  public  the  foregoing 
plan  of  an  establishment  adapted  either  for 
a  sanitarium  or  for  a  pleasure-resort,  it  is 
not  claimed  that  no  improvements  can  be 
suggested  in  the  more  unimportant  features ; 
but  the  central  and  main  ideas  here  ad- 
vanced are  believed,  for  the  best  of  reasons, 
to  be  impregnable  to  the  assaults  of  hostile 
criticism.  Probably  there  are  some  good 
matter-of-fact  people,  who  are  perfectly 
satisfied  with  the  world  as  it  is,  who  will 
consider  the  whole  thing  an  idle  dream  of 
the  imagination,  about  as  unsubstantial  in 
basis  as  the  "stately  pleasure-dome"  in 
Kubla  Khan ;  but  such  incredulous  souls  are 
respectfully  reminded  that  all  things  have  to 
be  imagined  before  they  can  become  accom- 
plished facts  in  the  world  of  realities.  To 


CONCLUSION.  101 

create  any  thing  of  importance  before  it  was 
imagined,  -or  ideally  created  in  the  mind, 
would  be  an  obvious  impossibility.  Those 
who  assume  to  decide  that  any  proposed  un- 
dertaking is  impracticable  at  the  present 
day  are  very  liable  to  have  it  conclusively 
shown  that  their  souls  are  not  prophetic 
ones.  Such  was  the  case  with  Dr.  Dionysius 
Lardner,  whose  pamphlet,  written  to  prove 
that  a  steamship  could  never  cross  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  first  reached  this  country 
by  way  of  a  steamship. 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  some  of  the  ideas 
advanced  in  these  pages  will  be  assailed  and 
criticised.  That  is  the  ordeal  which  all 
ideas,  with  any  claim  to  novelty  or  impor- 
tance, have  to  encounter.  But  if  they  have, 
as  is  believed,  a  firm  foundation  in  truth  and 
reason,  they  will  not  be  put  down  by  cavil  or 
vapid  sarcasm.  Some  of  the  objections  may 
seem  plausible  at  first  to  those  who  have  not 


102  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

fully  considered  the  subject,  while  others 
will  have  as  little  relevancy  as  the  objection 
of  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament  to 
the  first  railroad  that  was  chartered  in  Great 
Britain.  "  Suppose,"  said  this  sapient  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  before  which  the  great 
North-Country  engineer  was  advocating  his 
proposed  undertaking,  —  "  suppose  that  a 
cow  should  get  on  the  track  of  your  railroad 
when  the  engine  was  coming  along."  —  "So 
much  the  worse  for  the  coo,"  was  the  terse 
reply. 

Of  not  much  more  cogency  than  the  com- 
mittee-man's objection  to  the  railroad  is  the 
one  that  the  glass  in  the  garden-palace 
would  be  liable  to  be  broken  by  summer 
hail-storms.*  If  hailstones  of  ordinary  size 

*  Another  objection  of  even  less  cogency  is  the  one, 
that  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  would  crush  in  the  roof  of  the 
edifice.  Perhaps  an  expert  mathematician  —  Prof.  Pierce, 
for  instance  —  might  be  able  to  calculate  for  what  fraction 


CONCL  USION.  103 

should  fall  on  glass  one-third  of  an  inch  or 
more  thick,  it  would  be  so  much  the  worse 
for  the  hailstones.  As  for  those  extremely 
rare  cases  when  balls  of  ice  of  great  size  fall 
from  the  clouds,  they  are  so  infrequent,  that 
they  may  be  considered  out  of  the  range  of 
ordinary  probability.  Such  a  meteorological 
bombardment,  depending,  as  the  iceballs  do 
for  their  formation,  upon  certain  uncommon 
electrical  states  of  the  upper  air,  is  one  of 
the  rarest  of  natural  phenomena,  and  is 
always  very  limited  in  its  range.  The 
chances  that  an  ice-storm,  severe  enough  to 
break  glass  of  the  thickness  proposed,  would 
pass  over  any  given  locality  once  in  a  cen- 
tury, could  not  be  greater  than  one  in  a 
million.  During  hot  weather,  large  portions 

of  a  second  a  snow-flake  would  remain  as  a  snow-flake 
on  the  garden-roof.  Snow  would  melt  almost  as  soon  as 
it  touched  the  glass,  wanned  from  below;  and  would  pass 
off  by  the  proper  conductors  as  rain-water. 


104  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

of  the  garden-roof  would  be  covered  with 
canvas,  which,  as  far  as  it  extended,  would 
be  a'protection  against  hail ;  and,  if  it  were 
thought  advisable,  the  whole  could  be  com- 
pletely shielded  by  covering  it  with  a  net- 
ting of  small  galvanized  wire,  with  meshes 
an  inch  or  so  in  diameter. 
.  Only  one  severe  hail-storm  has  passed 
over  the  Sydenham  Crystal  Palace  since  its 
erection,  and  then  no  damage  was  done.  By 
a  most  singular  coincidence,  it  rattled  down 
upon  the  glass  roof  with  tremendous  din 
while  the  grand  Hailstone  Chorus  from 
Israel  in  Egypt  was  being  performed,  at  a 
musical  festival  in  honor  of  Handel,  by  an 
immense  chorus  of  singers  and  a  large 
orchestra. 

The  question  now  arises,  Who  among  the 
wealthy,  the  philanthropic,  the  men  of  great, 
business-energy  and  of  far-seeing  minds,  will 
aid  in  furnishing  the  required  capital  for  an 


CONCLUSION.  105 

initial  establishment  like  or  resembling  the 
one  inadequately  described  in  the  preceding 
chapter  ?  There  are  a  few  men  in  the  coun- 
try who  could  spare  the  amount  needed  for 
its  realization,  and  scarcely  miss  it  from  their 
colossal  fortunes.  But  the  money  would  not 
be  sunk  nor  thrown  away.  If  there  is  any 
reliance  whatever  to  be  placed  on  calculations 
a  priori,  such  an  outlay  of  capital  would 
be  remunerative  to  its  owners,  as  well  as  a 
great  public  benefit.  What  an  opportunity  to 
secure  undying  fame  for  some  money-king  who 
has  the  far-sightedness  and  the  audacity  to 
embark  a  portion  of  his  accumulated  millions 
in  such  an  enterprise  !  Is  there  not  one  such 
man  in  the  country,  endowed  with  the 
sagacity,  the  liberal-mindedness,  and  the 
nerve,  to  boldly  take  the  initiative,  and  show 
the  world  what  may  be  done  by  wealth  when 
directed  by  a  high  purpose  ?  Or  must  it  be 
left  for  the  co-operation  of  men  of  smaller 


106  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

means?  State  or  national  aid  is  not  to  be 
expected,  until  public  opinion,  which  gives 
law  to  the  law-makers,  is  educated  to  see  the 
importance  and  the  feasibility  of  the  enter- 
prise. If  it  were  possible  —  and  why  is  it 
not?  —  to  enlist  the  interest  of  a  few  men 
endowed  with  the  persevering  energy  dis- 
played by  some  of  the  master-spirits  who 
have  carried  to  successful  completion  the 
great  undertakings  of  the  age,  one  such 
establishment  might  be  made  ready  for  dedi- 
cation on  the  approaching  centennial  of  the 
nation's  birth. 

It  may  be  that  the  present  generation  of 
men  will  not  see  the  creation  of  even  one  such 
oasis  of  bloom  and  warmth  amid  the  cheer- 
less ice-deserts  of  our  Northern  winters.  If, 
unfortunately,  that  should  be  the  case,  then 
we  shall  have  missed  a  practical  realization 
of  the  beautiful  possibilities  of  existence  in 
artificial  climates  on  this  weather-beaten 
section  of  the  earth. 


APPENDIX. 

THE  almost  unlimited  potentiality  of  glass  in 
the  amelioration  of  the  winter  climates  of  high 
latitudes  will  yet  be  generally  recognized.  There 
are  many  ways  by  which  its  more  extensive  use 
would  render  life  during  the  cold  season  greatly 
more  endurable.  How  easily,  for  example,  and 
at  what  comparatively  small  expense,  could  the 
bleak,  storm-swept  streets  of  Northern  cities  in 
winter  be  converted  into  delightful  thoroughfares, 
as  far  as  pedestrianism  is  concerned,  by  enclos- 
ing the  sidewalks  with  large,  thick  glass  panes, 
supported  in  a  light,  ornamental  iron  framework ! 
No  alteration  whatever  in  the  buildings  or  the 
streets  would  be  needed.  Small  iron  columns, 
four  or  five  feet  apart,  would  rise  from  the  curb- 
stones to  nearly  the  height  of  the  first  story  of 
the  stores  or  dwellings.  These  columns  would 
support  a  light,  open-work  entablature,  from 

107 


108  LIFE    UNDER    GLASS. 

which  the  glass  roof  would  slope  upwards  to  the 
side  of  the  buildings.  The  spaces  between  the 
columns  could  be  left  square  at  the  top,  or  made 
more  ornamental  by  arches,  either  round  or 
Gothic.  At  the  bottom,  for  three  feet  or 
upwards  in  height  from  the  curbstones,  iron 
plates  would  be  substituted  for  glass,  to  avoid 
accidental  breakage  from  hubs  of  wheels  or 
other  causes.  Openings  would  be  left  at  the  ends 
of  blocks,  where  there  were  cross-streets,  suffi- 
cient to  allow  free  passage  to  the  tide  of  foot- 
people.  There  would  also  be  openings  opposite 
each  store  or  house  front.  The  glass  in  the  sides 
would  be  set  in  movable  iron  sashes,  which 
would  be  taken  out  on  the  approach  of  warm 
weather,  and  replaced  before  winter.  The  glass 
in  the  roof  would  remain  permanently  throughout 
the  year,  and  in  summer  would  be  covered  with 
canvas  awnings. 

The  cost  of  thus  enclosing  the  sidewalks  of  the 
principal  streets  in  an}'  large  city  would  not  be 
great ;  while  the  benefits  that  would  follow,  in  the 


APPENDIX.  109 

promotion  of  health  and  comfort,  would  be  incal- 
culable. The  thousands  of  pedestrians  that 
daity  throng  any  great  city  thoroughfare  would, 
if  its  sidewalks  were  thus  enclosed,  be  almost 
entirely  sheltered  during  the  inclement  season 
from  storms,  cold  winds,  and  dust :  they  would 
also,  to  a  great  degree,  be  exempt  from  the 
annoyances  of  snow  and  mud  and  the  dangers 
of  icy  flag-stones.  Ladies  and  delicate  invalids 
could  do  their  shopping  or  visiting,  or  take  their 
needful  daily  exercise,  in  all  weathers.  Nor 
would  the  benefits  of  these  arcades  end  with  the 
cold  season.  The  awning-covered  roofs  would 
in  summer  be  a  protection  from  rain,  from  the 
hot  noonday  sun,  and,  to  some  extent,  from  dust. 
Only  one  small  interest  will  suffer  when  this 
entirely  feasible,  and  certainly  desirable,  plan 
shall  be  generally  adopted ;  and  that  is  the 
umbrella-makers.  But  there  will  still  be  a 
demand  for  their  useful  commodities  from  the 
country- towns. 

It  admits  of  no  question  that  the  business-street 


110  LIFE    UNDER   GLASS. 

or  block,  in  any  considerable  town,  which  shall 
be  the  first  to  have  glass  arcades  for  the  protec- 
tion of  its.  sidewalks' during  the  wintry  season, 
will  attract  trade  enough  to  its  stores  to  pay  the 
cost  of  such  enclosures  many  times  over.  It  is 
one  of  the  anomalies  of  our  civilization,  that, 
while  the  greatest  care  is  justly  taken  to  prevent 
needless  suffering  among  domestic  animals,  no 
protection  whatever,  save  a  few  slight  awnings 
in  summer,  is  provided  for  the  throngs  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  that  daily  pass  and  repass 
along  the  sidewalks  of  every  large  town.  They 
are  exposed  to  the  full  peltings  of  the  fierce  win- 
try storms  ;  to  frequent  danger  to  limb,  and  even 
life,  by  the  often  icy  flaggings ;  and,  in  the  hot 
season,  to  the  scorching  noonday  sun  and  the 
frequent  torrents  of  rain. 

In  view  of  this  neglect  to  provide  the  means 
conducive  to  human  health  and  comfort  in  city 
streets,  would  it  not  be  well  to  start  a  society  for 
the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  pedestrians,  with 
some  philanthropic  Mr.  Bergh  for  its  president, 


APPENDIX.  Ill 

the  aim  of  which  should  be  to  agitate  the  matter 
in  all  reasonable  ways  until  the  proper  remedies 
were  provided?  The  city  of  the  future  will 
undoubtedly  have  better  appliances  for  the  com- 
fort and  well-being  of  its  inhabitants  than  do 
the  cities  of  to-day. 

As  only  by  often-repeated  iteration  do  unfamil- 
iar ideas  become  familiar  and  accepted  ones,  it 
will  not  be  out  of  place  to  restate,  in  conclusion, 
the  main  points  advanced  in  the  foregoing  expo- 
sition. They  are  briefly  summed  up  as  follows  : 
that  while  vicissitudes  of  climate  cannot  be 
controlled  by  human  agency,  yet  it  is  possible  to 
neutralize,  to  a  great  degree,  their  ill  effects ; 
that  the  three  principal  agents,  which  in  the  near 
future  will  be  used  to  make  this  possibility  a 
reality,  are  GLASS,  STEAM,  and  COMPRESSED  AIR. 
By  the  intelligent  use  of  these  means,  the  cold  of 
winter  and  the  heat  of  summer  may  each  be  neu- 
tralized, and  artificial  climates  be  created,  agree- 
able and  healthful  in  temperature,  and,  if  desired, 
nearly  invariable  throughout  the  year. 


FOURTEEN  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

SEP  2  81956 

7 1957y 

MAR    81971 

MAR  15  1971  S\ 


MAY  31  1971 
JUN  \     1971 


'fCDPUBLJAN 


14  V 


LD  21-100m-2,'55 
(B139s22)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


